Luke 5:1–26

The First Disciples

^1aNow it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by ^bthe lake of Gennesaret;

²and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.

³And ^aHe got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the ¹people from the boat.

⁴When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and ^alet down your nets for a catch.”

⁵Simon answered and said, “^aMaster, ^bwe worked hard all night and caught nothing, but ¹I will do as You say and let down the nets.”

⁶When they had done this, ^athey enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break;

⁷so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink.

⁸But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ ¹feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”

⁹For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken;

¹⁰and so also were ¹James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “^aDo not fear, from now on you will be ^bcatching men.”

¹¹When they had brought their boats to land, ^athey left everything and followed Him.

The Leper and the Paralytic

^12aWhile He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man ¹covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

¹³And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him.

¹⁴And He ordered him to tell no one, “But go and ^ashow yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

¹⁵But ^athe news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

¹⁶But Jesus Himself would often slip away ¹to the ²wilderness and ^apray.

¹⁷¹One day He was teaching; and ^athere were some Pharisees and ^bteachers of the law sitting there, who had ^ccome from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and ^dthe power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.

^18aAnd some men were carrying on a ¹bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him.

¹⁹But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on ^athe roof and let him down ^bthrough the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.

²⁰Seeing their faith, He said, “¹Friend, ^ayour sins are forgiven you.”

²¹The scribes and the Pharisees ^abegan to reason, saying, “^bWho is this man who speaks blasphemies? ^cWho can forgive sins, but God alone?”

²²But Jesus, ¹aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts?

²³“Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?

²⁴“But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the ^aparalytic—“I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.”

²⁵Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home ^aglorifying God.

²⁶¹They were all struck with astonishment and began ^aglorifying God; and they were filled ^bwith fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.”