Luke 5:1-22 ▼

1 Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by 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 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 let down your nets for a catch.”

5 Simon responded and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.”

6 And when they had done this, 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 James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear; from now on you will be catching people.”

11 When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

12 While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man 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 show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

15 But 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 to the wilderness and pray.

17 One day He was teaching, and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the Law sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.

18 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 the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.

20 And seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.”

21 The scribes and the Pharisees began thinking of the implications, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, except God alone?”

22 But Jesus, aware of their thoughts, responded and said to them, “Why are you thinking this way in your hearts?