Mark 2

A Paralytic Healed

2And when he^* entered again into Capernaum after some days, it became known that he was at home. ²And many had gathered, so that there was no longer room, not even at the door, and he was speaking the word to them. ³And they came bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. ⁴And when^* they were not able to bring him^* to him because of the crowd, they removed the roof where he was. And after^* digging through, they lowered the stretcher on which the paralytic was lying. ⁵And when^* Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶Now some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, ⁷“Why does this man speak like this? He is blaspheming! Who is able to forgive sins except God alone?” ⁸And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they were reasoning like this within themselves, said to them, “Why are you considering these things in your hearts? ⁹Which is easier to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say ‘Get up and pick up your stretcher and walk’? ¹⁰But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—he said to the paralytic—¹¹“I say to you, get up, pick up your stretcher, and go to your home.” ¹²And he got up and immediately picked up his^a stretcher and^* went out in front of them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything^* like this!”

Levi Called to Follow Jesus

¹³And he went out again beside the sea,^b and all the crowd was coming to him, and he began to teach^c them. ¹⁴And as he^* was passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me!” And he stood up and^* followed him.

¹⁵And it happened that he was dining^d in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with^e Jesus and his disciples, for there were many and they were following him. ¹⁶And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they^* saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, began to say^f to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷And when^* Jesus heard it^*, he said to them, “Those who are healthy do not have need of a physician, but those who are sick.^g I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

On Fasting

¹⁸And John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and they came and said to him, “Why^h do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹And Jesus said to them, “The bridegroom’s attendantsⁱ are not able to fast while the bridegroom is with them, are they?^j As long a time as they have the bridegroom with them, they are not able to fast. ²⁰But days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. ²¹No one sews a patch of unshrunken cloth on an old garment. Otherwise^k the patch pulls away from it—the new from the old—and the tear becomes worse. ²²And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise^l the wine will burst the wineskins and the wine is destroyed and the wineskins too. But new wine is put into new wineskins.”

Plucking Grain on the Sabbath

²³And it happened that he was going through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and his disciples began to make their way while^* plucking off the heads of grain. ²⁴And the Pharisees began to say^m to him, “Behold, why are they doing what is not permitted on the Sabbath?” ²⁵And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he had need and he and those who were with him were hungry—²⁶how he entered into the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the bread of the presentation, which it is not permitted to eat (except the priests) and also gave it^* to those who were with him?” ²⁷And he said to them, “The Sabbath was established for people, and not people for the Sabbath. ²⁸So then, the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”