8 But when Simon Peter saw [that], he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, |Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!|
9 For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken;
10 and so 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 men.|
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 implored Him, saying, |Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.|
13 And He stretched out 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, |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 on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him.
19 But not finding 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 Seeing their faith, He said, |Friend, your sins are forgiven you.|
21 The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, |Who is this [man] who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?|
22 But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, |Why are you reasoning in your hearts?
23 |Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins have been 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 paralytic-- |I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.|
25 Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.
26 They were all struck with astonishment and [began] glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, |We have seen remarkable things today.|
27 After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, |Follow Me.|
28 And he left everything behind, and got up and [began] to follow Him.
29 And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other [people] who were reclining [at the table] with them.
30 The Pharisees and their scribes [began] grumbling at His disciples, saying, |Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?|
31 And Jesus answered and said to them, |[It is] not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.
32 |I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.|
33 And they said to Him, |The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the [disciples] of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink.|
34 And Jesus said to them, |You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you?
35 |But [the] days will come; and when the bridegroom 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 piece from the new will not match the old.
37 |And no one puts 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] wishes for new; for he says, 'The old is good [enough].'|
