Matthew the Tax Collector^(A)

^9 (B)As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.

^10 (C)Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. ¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with ^(D)tax collectors and ^(E)sinners?”

¹² When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ^(F)‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, ^(G)but sinners, ^[a]to repentance.”

Jesus Is Questioned About Fasting^(H)

¹⁴ Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, ^(I)“Why do we and the Pharisees fast ^[b]often, but Your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, “Can ^(J)the ^[c]friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and ^(K)then they will fast. ¹⁶ No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for ^[d]the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. ¹⁷ Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins ^[e]break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

¹¹ So King David sent to ^(A)Zadok and Abiathar the priests, saying, “Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, ‘Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house, since the words of all Israel have come to the king, to his very house? ¹² You are my brethren, you are ^(B)my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the last to bring back the king?’ ^13 (C)And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? ^(D)God do so to me, and more also, if you are not commander of the army before me ^[a]continually in place of Joab.’ ” ¹⁴ So he swayed the hearts of all the men of Judah, ^(E)just as the heart of one man, so that they sent this word to the king: “Return, you and all your servants!”

¹⁵ Then the king returned and came to the Jordan. And Judah came to ^(F)Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to escort the king ^(G)across the Jordan. ¹⁶ And ^(H)Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite, who was from Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David. ¹⁷ There were a thousand men of ^(I)Benjamin with him, and ^(J)Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went over the Jordan before the king. ¹⁸ Then a ferryboat went across to carry over the king’s household, and to do what he thought good.

David’s Mercy to Shimei

Now Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king when he had crossed the Jordan. ¹⁹ Then he said to the king, ^(K)“Do not let my lord ^[b]impute iniquity to me, or remember what ^(L)wrong your servant did on the day that my lord the king left Jerusalem, that the king should ^(M)take it to heart. ²⁰ For I, your servant, know that I have sinned. Therefore here I am, the first to come today of all ^(N)the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.”

²¹ But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, “Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, ^(O)because he ^(P)cursed the Lord’s anointed?”

²² And David said, ^(Q)“What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should be adversaries to me today? ^(R)Shall any man be put to death today in Israel? For do I not know that today I am king over Israel?” ²³ Therefore ^(S)the king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king swore to him.

David and Mephibosheth Meet

²⁴ Now ^(T)Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king. And he had not cared for his feet, nor trimmed his mustache, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he returned in peace. ²⁵ So it was, when he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said to him, ^(U)“Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?”

²⁶ And he answered, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, ‘I will saddle a donkey for myself, that I may ride on it and go to the king,’ because your servant is lame.

Living Sacrifices to God

12 I ^(A)beseech^[a] you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies ^(B)a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your ^[b]reasonable service. ² And ^(C)do not be conformed to this world, but ^(D)be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may ^(E)prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Serve God with Spiritual Gifts

³ For I say, ^(F)through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, ^(G)not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt ^(H)to each one a measure of faith. ⁴ For ^(I)as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, ⁵ so ^(J)we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. ⁶ Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is ^(K)given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us ^(L)prophesy in proportion to our faith; ⁷ or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; ^(M)he who teaches, in teaching; ^8 (N)he who exhorts, in exhortation; ^(O)he who gives, with liberality; ^(P)he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, ^(Q)with cheerfulness.