Luke 5:27-39

English Standard Version

Jesus Calls Levi

^27 (A)After this he went out and saw ^(B)a tax collector named ^(C)Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” ²⁸ And ^(D)leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

²⁹ And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company ^(E)of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. ³⁰ And the Pharisees and ^(F)their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, ^(G)“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” ³¹ And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ^32 (H)I have not come to call the righteous ^(I)but sinners ^(J)to repentance.”

A Question About Fasting

³³ And they said to him, ^(K)“The disciples of John ^(L)fast often and ^(M)offer prayers, ^(N)and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, ^(O)“Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? ^35 (P)The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^(Q)then they will fast in those days.” ³⁶ He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one puts new wine into old ^(R)wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. ³⁹ And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”^[a]