Mark 2:1–28

The Paralytic Healed

¹When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.

²And ^amany were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.

^3aAnd they came, bringing to Him a ^bparalytic, carried by four men.

⁴Being unable to ¹get to Him because of the crowd, they ^aremoved the roof ²above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the ^bparalytic was lying.

⁵And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “¹Son, ^ayour sins are forgiven.”

⁶But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,

⁷“Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; ^awho can forgive sins ¹but God alone?”

⁸Immediately Jesus, aware ¹in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?

⁹“Which is easier, to say to the ^aparalytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’?

¹⁰“But 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 pallet and go home.”

¹²And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and ^awere glorifying God, saying, “^bWe have never seen anything like this.”

¹³And He went out again by the seashore; and ^aall the ¹people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.

Levi (Matthew) Called

^14aAs He passed by, He saw ^1bLevi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “^cFollow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

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

¹⁶When ^athe scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “^bWhy is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and ¹sinners?”

¹⁷And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “^aIt is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

^18aJohn’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, “While the bridegroom is with them, ¹the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? 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 patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise ²the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results.

²²“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.”

Question of the Sabbath

^23aAnd it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while ^bpicking the heads of grain.

²⁴The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, ^awhy are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

²⁵And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry;

²⁶how he entered the house of God in the time of ^aAbiathar the high priest, and ate the ¹consecrated bread, which ^bis not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?”

²⁷Jesus said to them, “^aThe Sabbath ¹was made ²for man, and ^bnot man for the Sabbath.

²⁸“So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”