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¹ Several days later Jesus[fn] returned to Capernaum, and it was reported that he was at home.[xr] ² So many crowds had gathered that there wasn't any room left for them, even in front of the door. Jesus[fn] was speaking the word to them ³ when some people[fn] came and brought him a paralyzed man being carried by four men. ⁴ Since they couldn't bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof over the place where he was. They dug through it and let down the cot on which the paralyzed man was lying. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, "Son, your sins are forgiven." ⁶ Now some scribes were sitting there, arguing among themselves,[fn] ⁷ "Why does this man talk this way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"[xr] ⁸ At once, Jesus knew in his spirit what they were saying to themselves. He said to them, "Why are you arguing about such things among yourselves?[fn][xr] ⁹ Which is easier: to say to the paralyzed man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, pick up your cot, and walk'?[xr] ¹⁰ But I want you to know[fn] that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins."Then he said to the paralyzed man, ¹¹ "I say to you, get up, pick up your cot, and go home!" ¹² So the man[fn] got up, immediately picked up his cot, and went out before all of them. As a result, all of the people were amazed and began to glorify God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"

¹³ Jesus[fn] went out again beside the sea. The whole crowd kept coming to him, and he kept teaching them.[xr] ¹⁴ As he was walking along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax collector's desk. Jesus[fn] said to him, "Follow me!" So Levi[fn] got up and followed him.[xr] ¹⁵ Later he was having dinner at Levi's[fn] house. Many tax collectors and sinners were also eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who were following him.[xr] ¹⁶ When the scribes and the Pharisees saw him eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, "Why does he eat and drink[fn] with tax collectors and sinners?" ¹⁷ When Jesus heard that, he said to them, "Healthy people don't need a physician, but sick ones do. I did not come to call righteous people, but sinners."[xr]

¹⁸ Now John's disciples and the Pharisees would fast regularly. Some people[fn] came and asked Jesus,[fn] "Why do John's disciples and the Pharisees' disciples fast, but your disciples don't fast?"[xr] ¹⁹ Jesus said to them, "The wedding guests can't fast while the groom is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they can't fast. ²⁰ But the days will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day." ²¹ "No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch pulls away from it - the new from the old - and a worse tear is made. ²² And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will make the skins burst, and both the wine and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured[fn] into fresh wineskins." ²³ Jesus[fn] happened to be going through the grainfields on the Sabbath. As they made their way, his disciples began picking the heads of grain.[xr] ²⁴ The Pharisees said to him, "Look! Why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" ²⁵ He said to them, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?[xr] ²⁶ How was it that he went into the House of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the Bread of the Presence, which was not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat, and gave some of it to his companions?"[xr] ²⁷ Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath. ²⁸ Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."[xr]