¹⁵ And it *happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and ^[a]sinners were ^[b]dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. ¹⁶ When ^(A)the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the ^[c]sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “^(B)Why is He eating with tax collectors and ^[d]sinners?” ¹⁷ And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “^(C)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 (D)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, ^[e]the attendants of the groom cannot fast, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ But the ^(E)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, ^[f]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.”