Mark 2

The Paralytic Healed

1When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. 2And 1many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. 32And they came, bringing to Him a 3paralytic, carried by four men. 4Being unable to 4get to Him because of the crowd, they 5removed the roof 6above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the 7paralytic was lying. 5And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “8Son, 9your 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; 10who can forgive sins 11but God alone?” 8Immediately Jesus, aware 12in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? 9Which is easier, to say to the 13paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? 10But 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 14were glorifying God, saying, “15We have never seen anything like this.”

13And He went out again by the seashore; and 16all the 17people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.

Levi (Matthew) Called

1418As He passed by, He saw 1920Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “21Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

15And it 22happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and 23sinners 24were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. 16When 25the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “26Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and 27sinners?” 17And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “28It 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.”

1829John’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, 30the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20But the 31days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

21“No one sews 32a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise 33the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. 22No 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

2334And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while 35picking the heads of grain. 24The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, 36why 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 37Abiathar the high priest, and ate the 38consecrated bread, which 39is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” 27Jesus said to them, “40The Sabbath 41was made 42for man, and 43not man 44for the Sabbath. 28So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”