¹⁰ Then it happened that as ^[a]Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and ^[b]sinners came and began dining with Jesus and His disciples. ¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “^(A)Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” ¹² But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not ^(B)those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ Now go and learn ^[c](C)what this means: ‘^(D)I desire ^[d]compassion, ^[e]rather than sacrifice,’ for ^(E)I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The Question about Fasting

¹⁴ Then the disciples of John *came to Him, asking, “Why do we and ^(F)the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, “The ^[f]attendants of the groom cannot mourn as long as the groom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the groom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. ¹⁶ But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for ^[g]the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. ¹⁷ Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”