⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to ^(A)the tradition of ^(B)the elders, ^(C)but eat with ^(D)defiled hands?”

Warning Against Idleness

⁶ Now we command you, brothers, ^(A)in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ^(B)that you keep away from any ^(C)brother ^(D)who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.

²¹ and they have been told about you that you teach all ^(A)the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, ^(B)telling them ^(C)not to circumcise their children or ^(D)walk according to ^(E)our customs.

¹⁴ And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely ^(A)zealous was I for ^(B)the traditions of my fathers.

²⁴ take these men and ^(A)purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, ^(B)so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law.

¹⁶ And ^(A)the scribes of^[a] the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, ^(B)“Why does he eat^[b] with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷ And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ^(C)I came not to call the righteous, ^(D)but sinners.”

A Question About Fasting

¹⁸ Now ^(E)John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, ^(F)“Why do John's disciples and ^(G)the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

^2 (A)“Why do your disciples break ^(B)the tradition of the elders? ^(C)For they do not wash their hands when they eat.”

¹² and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

¹¹ For we hear that some among you ^(A)walk in idleness, not busy at work, but ^(B)busybodies.