Read the Bible

The First Disciples

^1 (C1)Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by ^(C2)the lake of Gennesaret;² and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.³ And ^(C1)He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little distance from the land. And He sat down and continued teaching the crowds from the boat.⁴ Now when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and ^(C1)let down your nets for a catch."⁵ Simon responded and said, "^(C1)Master, ^(C2)we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but ^(F1)I will do as You say and let down the nets."⁶ And when they had done this, ^(C1)they caught a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to tear;⁷ so they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, to the point that they were sinking.⁸ But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!"⁹ For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken;¹⁰ and likewise also were ^(F1)James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "^(C1)Do not fear; from now on you will be ^(C2)catching people."¹¹ When they had brought their boats to land, ^(C1)they left everything and followed Him.

A Man with Leprosy Healed

^12 (C1)While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man ^(F1)covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."¹³ And He reached out with His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." And immediately the leprosy left him.¹⁴ And He ordered him to tell no one, saying, "But go and ^(C1)show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."¹⁵ But ^(C1)the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses.¹⁶ But Jesus Himself would often slip away ^(F1)to the ^(F2)wilderness and ^(C1)pray.

A Man Lowered through a Roof

^17 (F1)One day He was teaching, and ^(C1)there were some Pharisees and ^(C2)teachers of the Law sitting there who had ^(C3)come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem; and ^(C4)the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.^18 (C1)And some men were carrying a man on a stretcher who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him.¹⁹ But when they did not find any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on ^(C1)the roof and let him down ^(C2)through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.²⁰ And seeing their faith, He said, "^(F1)Friend, ^(C1)your sins are forgiven you."²¹ The scribes and the Pharisees ^(C1)began thinking of the implications, saying, "^(C2)Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? ^(C3)Who can forgive sins, except God alone?"²² But Jesus, ^(F1)aware of their thoughts, responded and said to them, "Why are you thinking this way in your hearts?²³ "Which is easier, to say: 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?²⁴ "But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins," He said to the ^(C1)man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher, and go home."²⁵ And immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home ^(C1)glorifying God.²⁶ And ^(F1)they were all struck with astonishment and began ^(C1)glorifying God. They were also filled ^(C2)with fear, saying, "We have seen remarkable things today!"

Call of Levi (Matthew)

^27 (C1)After that He went out and looked at a tax collector named ^(F1)(C2)Levi sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, "Follow Me."²⁸ And he ^(C1)left everything behind, and got up and began following Him.

²⁹ And ^(C1)Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a large crowd of ^(C2)tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.^30 (C1)The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling to His disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and ^(F1)sinners?"³¹ And Jesus answered and said to them, "^(C1)It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.³² "I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners."

³³ And they said to Him, "^(C1)The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do ^(F1)the same, but Yours eat and drink."³⁴ And Jesus said to them, "You cannot make the ^(F1)attendants of the groom fast while the groom is with them, can you?³⁵ "^(C1)But the days will come; and when the groom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days."³⁶ And He was also telling them a parable: "No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the patch from the new garment will not match the old.³⁷ "And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.³⁸ "But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.³⁹ "And no one, after drinking old wine wants new; for he says, 'The old is fine.'"