Jesus Cleanses a Man with Leprosy

8 When ^[a]Jesus came down from the mountain, ^[b]large crowds followed Him. ² And ^(A)a man with ^[c]leprosy came to Him and ^[d](B)bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” ^3 [e]Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his ^(C)leprosy was cleansed. ⁴ And Jesus *said to him, “^(D)See that you tell no one; but ^(E)go, ^(F)show yourself to the priest and present the ^[f]offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

The Centurion’s Faith

⁵ And ^(G)when ^[g]Jesus entered Capernaum, a ^[h]centurion came to Him, begging Him, ⁶ and saying, “^[i]Lord, my ^[j]servant is lying ^(H)paralyzed at home, terribly tormented.” ⁷ Jesus *said to him, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸ But the centurion replied, “^[k]Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just ^[l]say the word, and my ^[m]servant will be healed. ⁹ For I also am a man under ^(I)authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” ¹⁰ Now when Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith ^[n]with anyone in Israel. ¹¹ And I say to you that many ^(J)will come from east and west, and ^[o]recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; ¹² but ^(K)the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into ^(L)the outer darkness; in that place ^(M)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” ¹³ And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; ^[p]it shall be done for you ^(N)as you have believed.” And the ^[q]servant was healed at that very ^[r]moment.

Peter’s Mother-in-law and Many Others Healed

^14 (O)When Jesus came into Peter’s ^[s]home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever. ¹⁵ And He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and ^[t]waited on Him. ¹⁶ Now when evening came, they brought to Him many ^(P)who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and ^(Q)healed all who were ill. ¹⁷ This happened so that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled: “^(R)He Himself took our illnesses and ^[u]carried away our diseases.”

Discipleship Tested

¹⁸ Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, ^(S)He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. ^19 (T)Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” ²⁰ And Jesus *said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the sky have nests, but ^(U)the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” ²¹ And another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.” ²² But Jesus *said to him, “^(V)Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Jesus Calms the Storm

^23 (W)When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. ²⁴ And behold, a ^[v]violent storm developed on the sea, so that the boat was being covered by the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. ²⁵ And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “^(X)Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” ²⁶ He *said to them, “Why are you ^[w]afraid, ^(Y)you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and ^[x]it became perfectly calm. ²⁷ The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Jesus Sends Demons into Pigs

^28 (Z)And when He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two ^(AA)demon-possessed men confronted Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way.

A Paralyzed Man Healed

9 Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the Sea of Galilee and came to ^(A)His own city.

^2 (B)And they brought to Him a ^(C)paralyzed man lying on a stretcher. And seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man who was paralyzed, “^(D)Take courage, ^[a]son; ^(E)your sins are forgiven.” ³ And some of the scribes said ^[b]to themselves, “This man is ^(F)blaspheming!” ⁴ And Jesus, ^(G)perceiving their thoughts, said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? ⁵ For which is easier, to say, ‘^(H)Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ⁶ But so that you may know that ^(I)the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He *said to the ^(J)paralyzed man, “Get up, pick up your stretcher and go home.” ⁷ And he got up and ^[c]went home. ⁸ But when the crowds saw this, they were ^[d]awestruck, and they ^(K)glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

Matthew Called

^9 (L)As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called ^(M)Matthew sitting in the tax collector’s office; and He *said to him, “^(N)Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

¹⁰ Then it happened that as ^[e]Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and ^[f]sinners came and began dining with Jesus and His disciples. ¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “^(O)Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” ¹² But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not ^(P)those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ Now go and learn ^[g](Q)what this means: ‘^(R)I desire ^[h]compassion, ^[i]rather than sacrifice,’ for ^(S)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 ^(T)the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, “The ^[j]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 ^[k]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.”

^40 (A)And a man with ^[a]leprosy *came to ^[b]Jesus, imploring Him and ^(B)kneeling down, and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” ⁴¹ Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, and *said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” ⁴² And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. ⁴³ And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, ⁴⁴ and He *said to him, “^(C)See that you say nothing to anyone; but ^(D)go, show yourself to the priest and ^(E)offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” ⁴⁵ But he went out and began to ^(F)proclaim it ^[c]freely and to ^(G)spread the news around, to such an extent that ^[d]Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but ^[e]stayed out in unpopulated areas; and ^(H)they were coming to Him from everywhere.

The Paralyzed Man Healed

2 When Jesus came back to Capernaum a few days later, it was heard that He was at home. ² And ^(I)many were gathered together, so that there was no longer space, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. ^3 (J)And some people *came, bringing to Him a man who was ^(K)paralyzed, carried by four men. ⁴ And when they were unable to ^[f]get to Him because of the crowd, they ^(L)removed the roof ^[g]above Him; and after digging an opening, they let down the pallet on which the ^(M)paralyzed man was lying. ⁵ And Jesus, seeing their faith, *said to the paralyzed man, “Son, ^(N)your sins are forgiven.” ⁶ But some of the scribes were sitting there and thinking it over in their hearts, ⁷ “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming! ^(O)Who can forgive sins except God alone?” ⁸ Immediately Jesus, aware ^[h]in His spirit that they were thinking that way within themselves, *said to them, “Why are you thinking about these things in your hearts? ⁹ Which is easier, to say to the ^(P)paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? ¹⁰ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He *said to the paralyzed man, ¹¹ “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet, and go home.” ¹² And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and ^(Q)were glorifying God, saying, “^(R)We have never seen anything like this!”

¹³ And He went out again by the seashore; and ^(S)all the ^[i]people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.

Levi (Matthew) Called

^14 (T)As He passed by, He saw ^[j](U)Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He *said to him, “^(V)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 ^[k]sinners were ^[l]dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. ¹⁶ When ^(W)the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the ^[m]sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “^(X)Why is He eating with tax collectors and ^[n]sinners?” ¹⁷ And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “^(Y)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 (Z)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, ^[o]the attendants of the groom cannot fast, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ But the ^(AA)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, ^[p]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 (AB)And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while ^(AC)picking the heads of grain. ²⁴ The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, ^(AD)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 ^[q]time of ^(AE)Abiathar the high priest, and ate the ^[r]consecrated bread, which ^(AF)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, “^(AG)The Sabbath ^[s]was made ^[t]for man, and ^(AH)not man ^[u]for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.”

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

3 ^(AI)He ^(AJ)entered a synagogue again; and a man was there whose hand was withered. ² And ^(AK)they were watching Him ^[v]closely to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, ^(AL)so that they might accuse Him. ³ He *said to the man with the withered hand, “^[w]Get up and come forward!” ⁴ And He *said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. ⁵ After ^(AM)looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ⁶ The Pharisees went out and immediately began ^[x]conspiring with the ^(AN)Herodians against Him, as to how they might put Him to death.

^7 (AO)Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and ^(AP)a large multitude from Galilee followed, and also from Judea, ⁸ and from Jerusalem, and from ^(AQ)Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of ^(AR)Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard about everything that He was doing and came to Him. ^9 (AS)And He told His disciples to see that a boat would be ready for Him because of the ^[y]masses, so that they would not crowd Him; ¹⁰ for He had ^(AT)healed many, with the result that all those who had ^(AU)diseases pushed in around Him in order to ^(AV)touch Him. ¹¹ And whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are ^(AW)the Son of God!” ¹² And He ^(AX)strongly warned them not to ^[z]reveal who He was.

The Twelve Are Chosen

¹³ And He *went up on ^(AY)the mountain and *^(AZ)summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. ¹⁴ And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, ¹⁵ and to have authority to cast out the demons. ¹⁶ And He appointed the twelve: ^(BA)Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter), ^17 [aa]James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of ^[ab]James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”); ¹⁸ and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, ^[ac]James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, and Simon the ^[ad]Zealot; ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

A Man Lowered through a Roof

^17 [a]One day He was teaching, and ^(A)there were some Pharisees and ^(B)teachers of the Law sitting there who had ^(C)come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem; and ^(D)the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. ^18 (E)And some men were carrying a man on a stretcher who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. ¹⁹ But when they did not find any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on ^(F)the roof and let him down ^(G)through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. ²⁰ And seeing their faith, He said, “^[b]Friend, ^(H)your sins are forgiven you.” ²¹ The scribes and the Pharisees ^(I)began thinking of the implications, saying, “^(J)Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? ^(K)Who can forgive sins, except God alone?” ²² But Jesus, ^[c]aware of their thoughts, responded and said to them, “Why are you thinking this way in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” He said to the ^(L)man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher, and go home.” ²⁵ And immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home ^(M)glorifying God. ²⁶ And ^[d]they were all struck with astonishment and began ^(N)glorifying God. They were also filled ^(O)with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today!”

Call of Levi (Matthew)

^27 (P)After that He went out and looked at a tax collector named ^[e](Q)Levi sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” ²⁸ And he ^(R)left everything behind, and got up and began following Him.

²⁹ And ^(S)Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a large crowd of ^(T)tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. ^30 (U)The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling to His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and ^[f]sinners?” ³¹ And Jesus answered and said to them, “^(V)It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners.”

³³ And they said to Him, “^(W)The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do ^[g]the same, but Yours eat and drink.” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the ^[h]attendants of the groom fast while the groom is with them, can you? ^35 (X)But the days will come; and when the groom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” ³⁶ And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the patch from the new garment will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. ³⁹ And no one, after drinking old wine wants new; for he says, ‘The old is fine.’”

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

6 ^(Y)Now it happened that ^[i]Jesus was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath, and His disciples ^(Z)were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. ² But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what ^(AA)is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ³ And Jesus, answering them, said, “Have you not even read ^(AB)what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, ⁴ how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the ^[j]consecrated bread, which ^(AC)is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?” ⁵ And He was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

^6 (AD)On another Sabbath He entered ^(AE)the synagogue and taught; and a man was there ^[k]whose right hand was withered. ⁷ Now the scribes and the Pharisees ^(AF)were watching Him ^[l]closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse Him. ⁸ But He ^(AG)knew ^[m]what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and ^[n]come forward!” And he got up and ^[o]came forward. ⁹ And Jesus said to them, “I ask you whether it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to destroy it?” ¹⁰ And after ^(AH)looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so; and his hand was restored. ¹¹ But they themselves were filled with senseless rage, and began discussing together what they might do to Jesus.

Choosing the Twelve

¹² Now it was ^[p]at this time that He went off to ^(AI)the mountain to ^(AJ)pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer with God. ¹³ And when day came, ^(AK)He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as ^(AL)apostles: ¹⁴ Simon, whom He also named Peter, and his brother Andrew; and ^[q]James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; ¹⁵ and ^(AM)Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot; ¹⁶ Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

¹⁷ And then Jesus ^(AN)came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was ^(AO)a large crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the coastal region of ^(AP)Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸ who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled by unclean spirits were being cured. ¹⁹ And all the ^[r]people were trying to ^(AQ)touch Him, because ^(AR)power was coming from Him and healing them all.