Matthew 9:1–17

THE SON OF MAN FORGIVES AND HEALS

9So he got into a boat, crossed over, and came to his own town.^{k 2}Just then^l some men^A brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Have courage, son, your sins are forgiven.”^m

³At this, some of the scribes said to themselves, “He’s blaspheming!”ⁿ

⁴Perceiving their thoughts,^o Jesus said, “Why are you thinking evil things in your hearts?^{B 5}For which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ⁶But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then he told the paralytic, “Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.” ⁷So he got up and went home. ⁸When the crowds saw this, they were awestruck^CD and gave glory^p to God, who had given such authority to men.

THE CALL OF MATTHEW

⁹As Jesus went on from there,^q he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.^r

¹⁰While he was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came to eat with Jesus and his disciples.^{s 11}When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”^t

¹²Now when he heard this, he said, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick.^{u 13}Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice.^Ev For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”^F

A QUESTION ABOUT FASTING

¹⁴Then John’s disciples came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”^w

¹⁵Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests^G be sad while the groom is with them? The time^H will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. ¹⁶No one patches an old garment with unshrunk cloth, because the patch pulls away from the garment and makes the tear worse. ¹⁷And no one puts^I new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”