2 And Jesus having returned to Capernaum, after some days it was rumored about that He was in the house [probably Peter’s].

² And so many people gathered together there that there was no longer room [for them], not even around the door; and He was discussing the Word.

³ Then they came, bringing a paralytic to Him, who had been picked up and was being carried by four men.

⁴ And when they could not get him to a place in front of Jesus because of the throng, they dug through the roof above Him; and when they had ^[a]scooped out an opening, they let down the [^[b]thickly padded] quilt or mat upon which the paralyzed man lay.

⁵ And when Jesus saw their faith [their confidence in God through Him], He said to the paralyzed man, Son, your sins are forgiven [you] and put away [that is, the ^[c]penalty is remitted, the sense of guilt removed, and you are made upright and in right standing with God].

⁶ Now some of the scribes were sitting there, holding a dialogue with themselves as they questioned in their hearts,

⁷ Why does this ^[d]Man talk like this? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins [^[e]remove guilt, remit the penalty, and bestow righteousness instead] except God alone?

⁸ And at once Jesus, becoming fully aware in His spirit that they thus debated within themselves, said to them, Why do you argue (debate, reason) about all this in your hearts?

⁹ Which is easier: to say to the paralyzed man, Your sins are forgiven and ^[f]put away, or to say, Rise, take up your sleeping pad or mat, and start walking about [and ^[g]keep on walking]?

¹⁰ But that you may know positively and beyond a doubt that the Son of Man has right and authority and power on earth to forgive sins—He said to the paralyzed man,

¹¹ I say to you, arise, pick up and carry your sleeping pad or mat, and be going on home.

¹² And he arose at once and picked up the sleeping pad or mat and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and ^[h] recognized and praised and thanked God, saying, We have never seen anything like this before!

¹³ [Jesus] went out again along the seashore; and all the multitude kept gathering about Him, and He kept teaching them.

¹⁴ And as He was passing by, He saw Levi (Matthew) son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, Follow Me! [Be ^[i]joined to Me as a disciple, side with My party!] And he arose and joined Him as His disciple and sided with His party and accompanied Him.

¹⁵ And as Jesus, together with His disciples, sat at table in his [Levi’s] house, many tax collectors and persons [^[j]definitely stained] with sin were dining with Him, for there were many who walked the same road (followed) with Him.

¹⁶ And the scribes [belonging to the party] of the Pharisees, when they saw that He was eating with [those ^[k]definitely known to be especially wicked] sinners and tax collectors, said to His disciples, Why does He eat and drink with tax collectors and [notorious] sinners?

¹⁷ And when Jesus heard it, He said to them, Those who are strong and well have no need of a physician, but those who are weak and sick; I came not to call the righteous ones to repentance, but sinners (the ^[l]erring ones and ^[m]all those not free from sin).

¹⁸ Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were observing a fast; and [some people] came and asked Jesus, Why are John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fasting, but Your disciples are not doing so?

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, Can the wedding guests fast (abstain from food and drink) while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

²⁰ But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and they will fast in that day.

²¹ No one sews a patch of unshrunken (new) goods on an old garment; if he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and the rent (tear) becomes bigger and worse [than it was before].

²² And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the bottles destroyed; but new wine is to be put in new (fresh) wineskins.

²³ One Sabbath He was going along beside the fields of standing grain, and as they made their way, His disciples began to ^[n]pick off the grains.^(A)

²⁴ And the Pharisees said to Him, Look! Why are they doing what is not permitted or lawful on the Sabbath?

²⁵ And He said to them, Have you never [even] read what David did when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were accompanying him?—

²⁶ How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was the high priest, and ate the sacred loaves set forth [before God], which it is not permitted or lawful for any but the priests to eat, and [how he] also gave [them] to those who were with him?^(B)

²⁷ And Jesus said to them, The Sabbath was made on account and for the sake of man, not man for the Sabbath;^(C)

²⁸ So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

3 Again Jesus went into a synagogue, and a man was there who had one withered hand [^[a]as the result of accident or disease].

² And [the Pharisees] kept watching Jesus [closely] to see whether He would cure him on the Sabbath, so that they might get a charge to bring against Him [^[b]formally].

³ And He said to the man who had the withered hand, Get up [and stand here] in the midst.

⁴ And He said to them, Is it lawful and right on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to take it? But they kept silence.

⁵ And He glanced around at them with vexation and anger, grieved at the hardening of their hearts, and said to the man, Hold out your hand. He held it out, and his hand was [completely] restored.

⁶ Then the Pharisees went out and immediately held a consultation with the Herodians against Him, how they might [devise some means to] put Him to death.

⁷ And Jesus retired with His disciples to the lake, and a great throng from Galilee followed Him. Also from Judea

⁸ And from Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from about Tyre and Sidon—a vast multitude, hearing all the many things that He was doing, came to Him.

⁹ And He told His disciples to have a little boat in [constant] readiness for Him because of the crowd, lest they press hard upon Him and crush Him.

¹⁰ For He had healed so many that all who had distressing bodily diseases kept falling upon Him and pressing upon Him in order that they might touch Him.

¹¹ And the spirits, the unclean ones, ^[c]as often as they might see Him, fell down before Him and kept screaming out, You are the Son of God!

¹² And He charged them strictly and severely under penalty again and again that they should not make Him known.

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11 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

² Say to the Israelites: These are the animals ^[a]which you may eat among all the beasts that are on the earth.^(A)

³ Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, any of these animals you may eat.

⁴ Nevertheless these you shall not eat of those that chew the cud or divide the hoof: the camel, because it chews the cud but does not divide the hoof; it is unclean to you.

⁵ And the coney or rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not divide the hoof; it is unclean to you.

⁶ And the hare, because it chews the cud but does not divide the hoof; it is unclean to you.

⁷ And the swine, because it divides the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud; it is unclean to you.

⁸ Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean to you.

⁹ These you may eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, these you may eat;

¹⁰ But all that have not fins and scales in the seas and in the rivers, of all the creeping things in the waters, and of all the living creatures which are in the waters, they are [to be considered] an abomination and abhorrence to you.^(B)

¹¹ They shall continue to be an abomination to you; you shall not eat of their flesh, but you shall detest their carcasses.

¹² Everything in the waters that has not fins or scales shall be abhorrent and detestable to you.

¹³ These you shall have in abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, for they are detestable: the eagle, the ossifrage, the ospray,

¹⁴ The kite, the whole species of falcon,

¹⁵ Every kind of raven,

¹⁶ The ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, every species of hawk,

¹⁷ The owl, the cormorant, the ibis,

¹⁸ The swan, the pelican, the vulture,

¹⁹ The stork, all kinds of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat.

²⁰ All winged insects that go upon all fours are to be an abomination to you;

²¹ Yet of all winged insects that go upon all fours you may eat those which have legs above their feet with which to leap on the ground.

²² Of these you may eat: the whole species of locust, of bald locust, of cricket, and of grasshopper.^(C)

²³ But all other winged insects which have four feet shall be detestable to you.

²⁴ And by [contact with] these you shall become unclean; whoever touches the carcass of them shall be unclean until the evening,

²⁵ And whoever carries any part of their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.

²⁶ Every beast which parts the hoof but is not cloven-footed or does not chew the cud is unclean to you; everyone who touches them shall be unclean.

²⁷ And all that go on their paws, among all kinds of four-footed beasts, are unclean to you; whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening,

²⁸ And he who carries their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you.

²⁹ These also are unclean to you among the creeping things [that multiply greatly] and creep upon the ground: the weasel, the mouse, any kind of great lizard,

³⁰ The gecko, the land crocodile, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon.

³¹ These are unclean to you among all that creep; whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until the evening.

³² And upon whatever they may fall when they are dead, it shall be unclean, whether it is an article of wood or clothing or skin (bottle) or sack, any vessel in which work is done; it must be put in water, and it shall be unclean until the evening; so it shall be cleansed.

³³ And every earthen vessel into which any of these [creeping things] falls, whatever may be in it shall be unclean, and you shall break the vessel.

³⁴ Of all the food [in one of these unclean vessels] which may be eaten, that on which such water comes shall be unclean, and all drink that may be drunk from every such vessel shall be unclean.

³⁵ And everything upon which any part of their carcass falls shall be unclean; whether an oven, or pan with a lid, or hearth for pots, it shall be broken in pieces; they are unclean, and shall be unclean to you.

³⁶ Yet a spring or a cistern or reservoir of water shall be clean; but whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean.

³⁷ If a part of their carcass falls on seed which is to be sown, it shall be clean;

³⁸ But if any water be put on the seed and any part of their carcass falls on it, it shall be unclean to you.

³⁹ If any animal of which you may eat dies [unslaughtered], he who touches its carcass shall be unclean until the evening.

⁴⁰ And he who eats of its carcass [ignorantly] shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening; he also who carries its carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening.

⁴¹ And everything that creeps on the ground and [multiplies in] swarms shall be an abomination; it shall not be eaten.

⁴² Whatever goes on its belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has more [than four] feet among all things that creep on the ground and swarm you shall not eat; for they are detestable.

⁴³ You shall not make yourselves loathsome and abominable [by eating] any swarming thing that [multiplies by] swarms, neither shall you make yourselves unclean with them, that you should be defiled by them.

⁴⁴ For I am the Lord your God; so consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am holy; neither defile yourselves with any manner of thing that multiplies in large numbers or swarms.^(D)

⁴⁵ For I am the Lord Who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God; therefore you shall be holy, for I am holy.^(E)

⁴⁶ This is the law of the beast, and of the bird, and of every living creature that moves in the waters, and creeps on the earth and multiplies in large numbers,

⁴⁷ To make a difference (a distinction) between the unclean and the clean, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten.

12 And the Lord said to Moses,

² Say to the Israelites, If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be unclean seven days, unclean as during her monthly discomfort.

³ And on the eighth day the child shall be circumcised.

⁴ Then she shall remain [separated] thirty-three days to be purified [from her loss] of blood; she shall touch no hallowed thing nor come into the [court of the] sanctuary until the days of her purifying are over.

⁵ But if the child she bears is a girl, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her periodic impurity, and she shall remain separated sixty-six days to be purified [from her loss] of blood.

⁶ When the days of her purifying are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb a year old for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering to the door of the Tent of Meeting to the priest;

⁷ And he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who has borne a male or a female child.

⁸ If she is unable to bring a lamb [for lack of means] then she shall bring two turtledoves or young pigeons, one for a burnt offering, the other for a sin offering; the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.^(F)