Mark 2

¹[A few] days later [Jesus] went back to Capernaum. And when [the people] heard that He was home,

²they gathered in such large numbers that [there was] no more room, not even outside the door, [as Jesus] spoke the word to them.

³Then a paralytic was brought to Him, carried by four [men].

⁴Since they were unable to get to [Jesus] through the crowd, they uncovered the roof above Him, made an opening, [and] lowered the paralytic on [his] mat.

⁵When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.

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

⁷“Why {does} this [man] speak like this? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸At once Jesus knew in His spirit that they were thinking this way within themselves. “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? He asked.

⁹“Which is easier: to say to a paralytic,‘ Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say,‘ Get up, pick up your mat, 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 tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home.

¹²And immediately [the man] got up, picked up [his] mat, [and] walked out in front of them all. As a result, they were all astounded and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

¹³[Once] again [Jesus] went out beside the sea. All the people came to Him, and He taught them [there].

¹⁴As He was walking along, He saw Levi [son] of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me, He told him, and [Levi] got up [and] followed Him.

¹⁵While [Jesus] was dining at [Levi’s] house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with [Him] and His disciples — for there were many who followed Him.

¹⁶When the scribes who [were] Pharisees saw [Jesus] eating with [these people], they asked His disciples, “Why {does} He eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷[On] hearing this, Jesus told them, “[It is] not the healthy [who] need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

¹⁸Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were often fasting. So [people] came to [Jesus] and asked, “Why don’t Your disciples fast [like] John’s disciples and [those] of the Pharisees?”

¹⁹Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while [He] is with them? As long as [He is] with them, they cannot fast.

²⁰But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

²¹No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the [new] piece will pull away from [the] old, and a worse tear will result.

²²And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and [both] the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, new wine [is poured] into new wineskins.”

²³One Sabbath [Jesus] was passing through the grainfields, and His disciples began to pick the heads of grain [as] they walked along.

²⁴[So] the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

²⁵[Jesus] replied, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?

²⁶During the high priesthood of Abiathar, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which was lawful only for the priests. And he gave [some] to his companions as well.

²⁷Then [Jesus] declared, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

²⁸Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.