^29 (A)Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And ^(B)there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. ^30 [a]And their scribes and the Pharisees ^[b]complained against His disciples, saying, ^(C)“Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

³¹ Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ^32 (D)I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Jesus Is Questioned About Fasting^(E)

³³ Then they said to Him, ^(F)“Why^[c] do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?”

³⁴ And He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the ^(G)bridegroom is with them? ³⁵ But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.”

^36 (H)Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one ^[d]puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. ³⁷ And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into new wineskins, ^[e]and both are preserved. ³⁹ And no one, having drunk old wine, ^[f]immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is ^[g]better.’ ”

³⁹ Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹ Also He spoke this parable to some ^(A)who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee ^(B)stood and prayed thus with himself, ^(C)‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ ¹³ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; ^(D)for everyone who exalts himself will be ^[a]humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

²³ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ^(A)For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and ^(B)have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. ²⁴ Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

²⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ^(C)For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and ^[a]self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ^(D)For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸ Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.