Top of Page
Page Style
as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing in on Him to hear the word of God, 2 He saw two boats sitting at the edge of the lake, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then He sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and caught nothing. Yet because You have said so, I will let down the nets.”
6 When they did this, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. So they joined in, and together they all filled both the boats so full that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all those with him were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken; 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” 11 Then they brought their boats to the shore, and they left everything and followed Him.
12 While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man was there who was covered with leprosy. When He saw Jesus, he fell with his face bowed to the ground and begged Him, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man, and said to him, “I am willing; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him.
14 Then Jesus ordered him not to tell anyone and said, “But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering of what Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”
15 But the news about Him spread all the more, so that large crowds came to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus would often withdraw to deserted places and pray.
17 One day as He was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting near. And the power of the Lord to heal was with Him. 18 Some men came carrying a paralysed man on a mat, and they tried to bring him in and lay him down before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the roof tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
20 When Jesus saw their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.”
21 Straight away scribes and the Pharisees began to thinking to themselves, “Who is this man who speaks this blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
22 Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things 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 paralysed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”
25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. 26 Everyone was amazed, and they glorified God. They were all filled with awe and said, “We have seen tremendous things today.”
27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” 28 So Levi stood up, and he left everything and followed Jesus.
29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and there was a large group of tax collectors and others who were reclining at table with them. 30 But the Pharisees and their scribes complained to His disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
31 Jesus answered, “Those who are healthy have no need of a doctor, but the sick do. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
33 Then the Pharisees asked Jesus, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but Your disciples eat and drink?”
34 Jesus said to them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”
36 Then He told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment. If he does, he will have torn the new, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better’.”