Chapter 2

The Paralytic Healed

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

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

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

4 Being 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.

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

6 But 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?”

8 Immediately 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.”

12 And 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.”

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

Levi (Matthew) Called

14 aAs 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.

15 And 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.

16 When 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?”

17 And 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.”

18 aJohn’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?”

19 And 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

23 aAnd 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.

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

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

26 how 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?”

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

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