Mark 2:14–22

Levi and Sinners Called

^14aAnd as He passed by, He saw ^1bLevi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He ^*said to him, “^cFollow Me!” And he stood up and followed Him.

¹⁵And it ^*1happened that as He was reclining at the table in his house, many tax collectors and ²sinners ³were reclining with Jesus and His disciples. For there were many of them, and they were following Him.

¹⁶And when ^athe scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they were saying to His disciples, “^bHe is eating and drinking with tax collectors and ¹sinners!”

¹⁷And hearing this, Jesus ^*said to them, “^aThose who are healthy do not have need for a physician, but only those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

^18aAnd 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?”

¹⁹And Jesus said to them, “Can ¹the attendants of the bridegroom fast when the bridegroom is with them? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

²⁰“But the ^adays will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

²¹“No one sews ¹a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise ²that 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.”