Levi (Matthew) Called

^14 (A)As He passed by, He saw ^[a](B)Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He *said to him, “^(C)Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

¹⁵ And it *happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and ^[b]sinners were ^[c]dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. ¹⁶ When ^(D)the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the ^[d]sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “^(E)Why is He eating with tax collectors and ^[e]sinners?” ¹⁷ And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “^(F)It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

^18 (G)John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they *came and *said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, “While the groom is with them, ^[f]the attendants of the groom cannot fast, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ But the ^(H)days will come when the groom is taken away from them, and then they will fast, on that day.

²¹ “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, ^[g]the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. ²² And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”

Question of the Sabbath

^23 (I)And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while ^(J)picking the heads of grain. ²⁴ The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, ^(K)why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵ And He *said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; ²⁶ how he entered the house of God in the ^[h]time of ^(L)Abiathar the high priest, and ate the ^[i]consecrated bread, which ^(M)is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷ Jesus said to them, “^(N)The Sabbath ^[j]was made ^[k]for man, and ^(O)not man ^[l]for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.”

God, a Helper against the Treacherous.

For the music director; ^[a]upon an eight-stringed lyre. A Psalm of David.