Psalm 15

A psalm of David.

The Calling of Matthew^(A)

⁹ As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,”^(B) he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

¹⁰ While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. ¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”^(C)

¹² On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’^[a](D) For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”^(E)

Jesus Questioned About Fasting^(F)

¹⁴ Then John’s^(G) disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often,^(H) but your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁵ Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them?^(I) The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.^(J)

¹⁶ “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. ¹⁷ Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Aeneas and Dorcas

³² As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the Lord’s people^(A) who lived in Lydda. ³³ There he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years. ³⁴ “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you.^(B) Get up and roll up your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up. ³⁵ All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon^(C) saw him and turned to the Lord.^(D)

³⁶ In Joppa^(E) there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good^(F) and helping the poor. ³⁷ About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room.^{(G) 38} Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples^(H) heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”

³⁹ Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows^(I) stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

⁴⁰ Peter sent them all out of the room;^(J) then he got down on his knees^(K) and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.”^(L) She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. ⁴¹ He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. ⁴² This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.^{(M) 43} Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.^(N)