Matthew 9:9-26
The Voice
9 Later Jesus was walking along and He saw a man named Matthew sitting in the tax collector’s office.
Jesus (to Matthew): Follow Me.
Matthew got up and followed Him.
10 Once when He ate a meal at home with His disciples, a whole host of tax collectors and other sinners joined them. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked Jesus’ disciples,
Pharisees: Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?
Jesus (overhearing this): 12 Look, who needs a doctor—healthy people or sick people? 13 I am not here to attend to people who are already right with God; I am here to attend to sinners. In the book of the prophet Hosea, we read, “It is not sacrifice I want, but mercy.”[a] Go and meditate on that for a while—maybe you’ll come to understand it.
14 And then some of the disciples of John came.
John’s Disciples: What’s the story with fasting? We fast and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast!
Jesus: 15 When you celebrate—as at a wedding when one’s dearest friend is getting married—you do not fast. The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them. Then My friends and followers will fast. 16 You would begin by washing and shrinking a patch you would use to mend a garment—otherwise, the patch would shrink later, pull away from the garment, and make the original tear even worse. 17 You wouldn’t pour new wine into old wineskins. If you did, the skins would burst, the wine would run out, and the wineskins would be ruined. No, you would pour new wine into new wineskins—and both the wine and the wineskins would be preserved.
18 As He was saying these things, a certain official came before Jesus and knelt in front of Him.
Official: My daughter just died. Would You come and lay Your hands on her? Then, I know, she would live again.
19 Jesus got up, and He and His disciples went with the man. 20-21 But as they were heading to the man’s house, a woman who had been hemorrhaging and bleeding for 12 years—12 years!—crept up behind Jesus.
She evidently believes that if she so much as touches the fringes of His cloak, she will be healed.
And so she came up behind Him and touched His cloak. 22 Jesus turned around and saw her.
Jesus: Take heart, daughter. Your faith has healed you.
And indeed, from that moment, the woman was healed. 23 Then Jesus went to the official’s house. He saw flute players and mourners.
Jesus (to the crowd): 24 Go away, and do your ministering somewhere else. This girl is not dead. She is merely asleep.
The crowd—who knew with certainty that the girl was dead—laughed at Him. 25 But they obeyed Him and left the house, and once they were gone, Jesus went to the girl. When He took her hand, she opened her eyes and stood up. 26 When the crowds outside learned that the girl was indeed alive, they spread throughout the town and the surrounding country telling everyone what had happened.
Read full chapterThe Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
