Matthew 9:9–17

Jesus Calls Matthew

^9eAs Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called ^fMatthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁰And as Jesus² reclined at table in the house, behold, many ^gtax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. ¹¹And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ^h“Why does your teacher eat with ^gtax collectors and sinners?” ¹²But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³Go and learn ⁱwhat this means: ^j‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For ^kI came not to call the righteous, ^lbut sinners.”

A Question About Fasting

¹⁴Then ^mthe disciples of John came to him, saying, ⁿ“Why do we and ^othe Pharisees fast,³ but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵And Jesus said to them, ^p“Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? ^qThe days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^rthen they will fast. ¹⁶No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. ¹⁷Neither is new wine put into old ^swineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”