Luke 5:21-6:11

New International Version

²¹ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”^(A)

²² Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But I want you to know that the Son of Man^(B) has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ²⁵ Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. ²⁶ Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God.^(C) They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners^(D)

²⁷ After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,”^(E) Jesus said to him, ²⁸ and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.^(F)

²⁹ Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors^(G) and others were eating with them. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect^(H) complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”^(I)

³¹ Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”^(J)

Jesus Questioned About Fasting^(K)

³³ They said to him, “John’s disciples^(L) often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

³⁴ Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom^(M) fast while he is with them? ³⁵ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them;^(N) in those days they will fast.”

³⁶ He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸ No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. ³⁹ And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath^(O)

6 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels.^{(P) 2} Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”^(Q)

³ Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?^{(R) 4} He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat.^(S) And he also gave some to his companions.” ⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man^(T) is Lord of the Sabbath.”

⁶ On another Sabbath^(U) he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. ⁷ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely^(V) to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.^{(W) 8} But Jesus knew what they were thinking^(X) and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.

⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”

¹⁰ He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. ¹¹ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious^(Y) and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.