The First Disciples

5 ^(A)Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by ^(B)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 ^(C)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 ^(D)let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵ Simon responded and said, “^(E)Master, ^(F)we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but ^[a]I will do as You say and let down the nets.” ⁶ And when they had done this, ^(G)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 ^[b]James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “^(H)Do not fear; from now on you will be ^(I)catching people.” ¹¹ When they had brought their boats to land, ^(J)they left everything and followed Him.

A Man with Leprosy Healed

^12 (K)While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man ^[c]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 ^(L)show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” ¹⁵ But ^(M)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 ^[d]to the ^[e]wilderness and ^(N)pray.

A Man Lowered Through a Roof

^17 [f]One day He was teaching, and ^(O)there were some Pharisees and ^(P)teachers of the Law sitting there who had ^(Q)come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem; and ^(R)the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. ^18 (S)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 ^(T)the roof and let him down ^(U)through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. ²⁰ And seeing their faith, He said, “^[g]Friend, ^(V)your sins are forgiven you.” ²¹ The scribes and the Pharisees ^(W)began thinking of the implications, saying, “^(X)Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? ^(Y)Who can forgive sins, except God alone?” ²² But Jesus, ^[h]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 ^(Z)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 ^(AA)glorifying God. ²⁶ And ^[i]they were all struck with astonishment and began ^(AB)glorifying God. They were also filled ^(AC)with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today!”

Call of Levi (Matthew)

^27 (AD)After that He went out and looked at a tax collector named ^[j](AE)Levi sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” ²⁸ And he ^(AF)left everything behind, and got up and began following Him.

²⁹ And ^(AG)Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a large crowd of ^(AH)tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. ^30 (AI)The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling to His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and ^[k]sinners?” ³¹ And Jesus answered and said to them, “^(AJ)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, “^(AK)The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do ^[l]the same, but Yours eat and drink.” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the ^[m]attendants of the groom fast while the groom is with them, can you? ^35 (AL)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.’”

Jesus Stills the Sea

^22 (A)Now on one of those days ^[a]Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of ^(B)the lake.” So they launched out.