Mark 2:13–28

¹³And he went forth again by the sea, and all the multitude was coming unto him, and he was teaching them, ¹⁴and passing by, he saw Levi of Alpheus sitting at the tax-office, and saith to him, ‘Be following me,’ and he, having risen, did follow him. ¹⁵And it came to pass, in his reclining (at meat) in his house, that many tax-gatherers and sinners were reclining (at meat) with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him. ¹⁶And the scribes and the Pharisees, having seen him eating with the tax-gatherers and sinners, said to his disciples, ‘Why—that with the tax-gatherers and sinners he doth eat and drink?’ ¹⁷And Jesus, having heard, saith to them, ‘They who are strong have no need of a physician, but they who are ill; I came not to call righteous men, but sinners to reformation.’

¹⁸And the disciples of John and those of the Pharisees were fasting, and they come and say to him, ‘Wherefore do the disciples of John and those of the Pharisees fast, and thy disciples do not fast?’ ¹⁹And Jesus said to them, ‘Are the sons of the bride-chamber able, while the bridegroom is with them, to fast? so long time as they have the bridegroom with them they are not able to fast; ²⁰but days shall come when the bridegroom may be taken from them, and then they shall fast—in those days.

²¹‘And no one a patch of undressed cloth doth sew on an old garment, and if not—the new filling it up doth take from the old and the rent doth become worse; ²²and no one doth put new wine into old skins, and if not—the new wine doth burst the skins, and the wine is poured out, and the skins will be destroyed; but new wine into new skins is to be put.’ ²³And it came to pass—he is going along on the sabbaths through the corn-fields—and his disciples began to make a way, plucking the ears, ²⁴and the Pharisees said to him, ‘Lo, why do they on the sabbaths that which is not lawful?’ ²⁵And he said to them, ‘Did ye never read what David did, when he had need and was hungry, he and those with him? ²⁶how he went into the house of God, (at ‘Abiathar the chief priest,’) and the loaves of the presentation did eat, which it is not lawful to eat, except to the priests, and he gave also to those who were with him?’ ²⁷And he said to them, ‘The sabbath for man was made, not man for the sabbath, ²⁸so that the son of man is lord also of the sabbath.’

Chapter 3