Mark 2

¹And when he returned to Capernaum after some days , it was reported that he was at home .

²And many were gathered together , so that there was no more room , not even at the door . And he was preaching the word to them .

³And they came , bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men .

⁴And when they could not get near him because of the crowd , they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening , they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay .

⁵And when Jesus saw their faith , he said to the paralytic , Son , your sins are forgiven .

⁶Now some of the scribes were sitting there , questioning in their hearts ,

⁷Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming ! Who can forgive sins but God alone ?

⁸And immediately Jesus , perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves , said to them , Why do you question these things in your hearts ?

⁹Which is easier , to say to the paralytic , Your sins are forgiven , or to say , Rise , take up your bed and walk ?

¹⁰But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins —he said to the paralytic —

¹¹I say to you , rise , pick up your bed , and go home .

¹²And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all , so that they were all amazed and glorified God , saying , We never saw anything like this !

¹³He went out again beside the sea , and all the crowd was coming to him , and he was teaching them .

¹⁴And as he passed by , he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth , and he said to him , Follow me . And he rose and followed him .

¹⁵And as he reclined at table in his house , many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples , for there were many who followed him .

¹⁶And the scribes of the Pharisees , when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors , said to his disciples , Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners ?

¹⁷And when Jesus heard it, he said to them , Those who are well have no need of a physician , but those who are sick . I came not to call the righteous , but sinners .

¹⁸Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting . And people came and said to him , Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast , but your disciples do not fast ?

¹⁹And Jesus said to them , Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them ? As long as they have the bridegroom with them , they cannot fast .

²⁰The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them , and then they will fast in that day .

²¹No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment . If he does , the patch tears away from it, the new from the old , and a worse tear is made .

²²And no one puts new wine into old wineskins . If he does , the wine will burst the skins — and the wine is destroyed , and so are the skins . But new wine is for fresh wineskins .

²³One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields , and as they made their way , his disciples began to pluck heads of grain .

²⁴And the Pharisees were saying to him , Look , why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath ?

²⁵And he said to them , Have you never read what David did , when he was in need and was hungry , he and those who were with him :

²⁶how he entered the house of God , in the time of Abiathar the high priest , and ate the bread of the Presence , which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat , and also gave it to those who were with him ?

²⁷And he said to them , The Sabbath was made for man , not man for the Sabbath .

²⁸So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath .