2 Now 1 after some days, when he returned to Capernaum, 2 the news spread 3 that he was at home. 2 So many gathered that there was no longer any room, not even by 4 the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some people 5 came bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 6 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. 5 When Jesus saw their 10 faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 11 6 Now some of the experts in the law 12 were sitting there, turning these things over in their minds: 13 7 “Why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming! 14 Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 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 9 Which is easier, 18 to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up, take your stretcher, and walk’? 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 – 11 “I tell you, stand up, take your stretcher, and go home.” 22 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!”
13 Jesus 24 went out again by the sea. The whole crowd came to him, and he taught them. 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. 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. 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 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.”
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?” 19 Jesus 40 said to them, “The wedding guests 41 cannot fast while the bridegroom 42 is with them, can they? 43 As long as they have the bridegroom with them they do not fast. 20 But the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, 44 and at that time 45 they will fast. 21 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear becomes worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; 46 otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins will be destroyed. Instead new wine is poured into new wineskins.” 47
23 Jesus 48 was going through the grain fields on a Sabbath, and his disciples began to pick some heads of wheat 49 as they made their way. 24 So 50 the Pharisees 51 said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is against the law on the Sabbath?” 25 He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry – 26 how he entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest 52 and ate the sacred bread, 53 which is against the law 54 for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to his companions?” 55 27 Then 56 he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for people, 57 not people for the Sabbath. 28 For this reason the Son of Man is lord 58 even of the Sabbath.”
3 Then 1 Jesus 2 entered the synagogue 3 again, and a man was there who had a withered 4 hand. 2 They watched 5 Jesus 6 closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath, 7 so that they could accuse him. 3 So he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Stand up among all these people.” 8 4 Then 9 he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath, or evil, to save a life or destroy it?” But they were silent. 5 After looking around 10 at them in anger, grieved by the hardness of their hearts, 11 he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 12 6 So 13 the Pharisees 14 went out immediately and began plotting with the Herodians, 15 as to how they could assassinate 16 him.
7 Then 17 Jesus went away with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him. 18 And from Judea, 8 Jerusalem, 19 Idumea, beyond the Jordan River, 20 and around Tyre 21 and Sidon 22 a great multitude came to him when they heard about the things he had done. 9 Because of the crowd, he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him so the crowd 23 would not press toward him. 10 For he had healed many, so that all who were afflicted with diseases pressed toward him in order to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits 24 saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 But 25 he sternly ordered them not to make him known. 26
13 Now 27 Jesus went up the mountain 28 and called for those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He 29 appointed twelve (whom he named apostles 30 ), 31 so that they would be with him and he could send them to preach 15 and to have authority to cast out demons. 16 He appointed twelve: 32 To Simon 33 he gave the name Peter; 17 to James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee, 34 he gave the name Boanerges (that is, “sons of thunder”); 18 and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, 35 Matthew, Thomas, 36 James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, 37 Simon the Zealot, 38 19 and Judas Iscariot, 39 who betrayed him. 40
20 Now 41 Jesus 42 went home, and a crowd gathered so that they were not able to eat. 21 When his family 43 heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” 22 The experts in the law 44 who came down from Jerusalem 45 said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” 46 and, “By the ruler 47 of demons he casts out demons.” 23 So 48 he called them and spoke to them in parables: 49 “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If 50 a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom will not be able to stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan rises against himself and is divided, he is not able to stand and his end has come. 27 But no one is able to enter a strong man’s 51 house and steal his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can thoroughly plunder his house. 52 28 I tell you the truth, 53 people will be forgiven for all sins, even all the blasphemies they utter. 54 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is guilty of an eternal sin” 55 30 (because they said, “He has an unclean spirit” 56 ).
31 Then 57 Jesus’ 58 mother and his brothers 59 came. Standing 60 outside, they sent word to him, to summon him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him and they said to him, “Look, your mother and your brothers 61 are outside looking for you.” 33 He answered them and said, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 62 34 And looking at those who were sitting around him in a circle, he said, “Here 63 are my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God is 64 my brother and sister and mother.”
4 Again he began to teach by the lake. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there while 1 the whole crowd was on the shore by the lake. 2 He taught them many things in parables, 2 and in his teaching said to them: 3 “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 3 4 And as he sowed, some seed 4 fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground 5 where it did not have much soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. 6 6 When the sun came up it was scorched, and because it did not have sufficient root, 7 it withered. 7 Other seed fell among the thorns, 8 and they grew up and choked it, 9 and it did not produce grain. 8 But 10 other seed fell on good soil and produced grain, sprouting and growing; some yielded thirty times as much, some sixty, and some a hundred times.” 9 And he said, “Whoever has ears to hear had better listen!” 11
10 When he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 He said to them, “The secret 12 of the kingdom of God has been given 13 to you. But to those outside, everything is in parables,
12 so that although they look they may look but not see,
and although they hear they may hear but not understand,
so they may not repent and be forgiven.” 14
13 He said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? Then 15 how will you understand any parable? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: Whenever they hear, immediately Satan 16 comes and snatches the word 17 that was sown in them. 16 These are the ones sown on rocky ground: As soon as they hear the word, they receive it with joy. 17 But 18 they have no root in themselves and do not endure. 19 Then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 Others are the ones sown among thorns: They are those who hear the word, 19 but 20 worldly cares, the seductiveness of wealth, 21 and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, 22 and it produces nothing. 20 But 23 these are the ones sown on good soil: They hear the word and receive it and bear fruit, one thirty times as much, one sixty, and one a hundred.”
21 He also said to them, “A lamp 24 isn’t brought to be put under a basket 25 or under a bed, is it? Isn’t it to be placed on a lampstand? 22 For nothing is hidden except to be revealed, 26 and nothing concealed except to be brought to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, he had better listen!” 27 24 And he said to them, “Take care about what you hear. The measure you use will be the measure you receive, 28 and more will be added to you. 25 For whoever has will be given more, but 29 whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” 30
26 He also said, “The kingdom of God is like someone who spreads seed on the ground. 27 He goes to sleep and gets up, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 By itself the soil produces a crop, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 And when the grain is ripe, he sends in the sickle 31 because the harvest has come.” 32
30 He also asked, “To what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use to present it? 31 It is like a mustard seed 33 that when sown in the ground, even though it is the smallest of all the seeds in the ground – 32 when it is sown, it grows up, 34 becomes the greatest of all garden plants, and grows large branches so that the wild birds 35 can nest in its shade.” 36
33 So 37 with many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear. 34 He did not speak to them without a parable. But privately he explained everything to his own disciples.
35 On that day, when evening came, Jesus 38 said to his disciples, “Let’s go across to the other side of the lake.” 39 36 So 40 after leaving the crowd, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat, 41 and other boats were with him. 37 Now 42 a great windstorm 43 developed and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was nearly swamped. 38 But 44 he was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. They woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to die?” 39 So 45 he got up and rebuked 46 the wind, and said to the sea, 47 “Be quiet! Calm down!” Then 48 the wind stopped, and it was dead calm. 40 And he said to them, “Why are you cowardly? Do you still not have faith?” 41 They were overwhelmed by fear and said to one another, “Who then is this? 49 Even the wind and sea obey him!” 50
