Psalm 5^[a]

For the director of music. For pipes. A psalm of David.

The Fall

3 Now the serpent^(A) was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?^(B)”

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,^{(C) 3} but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”^(D)

⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.^{(E) 5} “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,^(F) knowing good and evil.”

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable^(G) for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband,^(H) who was with her, and he ate it.^{(I) 7} Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked;^(J) so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.^(K)

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking^(L) in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid^(M) from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”^(N)

¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid^(O) because I was naked;^(P) so I hid.”

¹¹ And he said, “Who told you that you were naked?^(Q) Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?^(R)”

¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me^(S)—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me,^(T) and I ate.”

¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

¹⁷ To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’^(AB)

²⁰ Adam^[c] named his wife Eve,^[d](AL) because she would become the mother of all the living.

²¹ The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.^{(AM) 22} And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us,^(AN) knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life^(AO) and eat, and live forever.” ²³ So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden^(AP) to work the ground^(AQ) from which he had been taken. ²⁴ After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side^[e] of the Garden of Eden^(AR) cherubim^(AS) and a flaming sword^(AT) flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.^(AU)

Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man^(A)

2 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ² They gathered in such large numbers^(B) that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. ³ Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man,^(C) carried by four of them. ⁴ Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”^(D)

⁶ Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ⁷ “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”^(E)

⁸ Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? ⁹ Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰ But I want you to know that the Son of Man^(F) has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, ¹¹ “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ¹² He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God,^(G) saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”^(H)

Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners^(I)

¹³ Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him,^(J) and he began to teach them. ¹⁴ As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,”^(K) Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

¹⁵ While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees^(L) saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”^(M)

¹⁷ On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”^(N)

Jesus Questioned About Fasting^(O)

¹⁸ Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting.^(P) Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”

¹⁹ Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. ²⁰ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them,^(Q) and on that day they will fast.

²¹ “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. ²² And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”