2:1 Now 1 after some days, when he returned to Capernaum, 2 the news spread 3 that he was at home. 2:2 So many gathered that there was no longer any room, not even by 4 the door, and he preached the word to them. 2:3 Some people 5 came bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 6 2:4 When they were not able to bring him in because of the crowd, they removed the roof 7 above Jesus. 8 Then, 9 after tearing it out, they lowered the stretcher the paralytic was lying on. 2:5 When Jesus saw their 10 faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 11 2:6 Now some of the experts in the law 12 were sitting there, turning these things over in their minds: 13 2:7 “Why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming! 14 Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 2:8 Now 15 immediately, when Jesus realized in his spirit that they were contemplating such thoughts, 16 he said to them, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? 17 2:9 Which is easier, 18 to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up, take your stretcher, and walk’? 2:10 But so that you may know 19 that the Son of Man 20 has authority on earth to forgive sins,” – he said to the paralytic 21 – 2:11 “I tell you, stand up, take your stretcher, and go home.” 22 2:12 And immediately the man 23 stood up, took his stretcher, and went out in front of them all. They were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
2:13 Jesus 24 went out again by the sea. The whole crowd came to him, and he taught them. 2:14 As he went along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax booth. 25 “Follow me,” he said to him. And he got up and followed him. 2:15 As Jesus 26 was having a meal 27 in Levi’s 28 home, many tax collectors 29 and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 2:16 When the experts in the law 30 and the Pharisees 31 saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 32 2:17 When Jesus heard this he said to them, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. 33 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
2:18 Now 34 John’s 35 disciples and the Pharisees 36 were fasting. 37 So 38 they came to Jesus 39 and said, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast?”