Mark 2:14–22

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.”