The First Disciples

5 ^(A)Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by ^(B)the lake of Gennesaret; ² and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. ³ And ^(C)He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little distance from the land. And He sat down and continued teaching the crowds from the boat. ⁴ Now when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and ^(D)let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵ Simon responded and said, “^(E)Master, ^(F)we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but ^[a]I will do as You say and let down the nets.” ⁶ And when they had done this, ^(G)they caught a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to tear; ⁷ so they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, to the point that they were sinking. ⁸ But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” ⁹ For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; ¹⁰ and likewise also were ^[b]James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “^(H)Do not fear; from now on you will be ^(I)catching people.” ¹¹ When they had brought their boats to land, ^(J)they left everything and followed Him.

A Man with Leprosy Healed

^12 (K)While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man ^[c]covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” ¹³ And He reached out with His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him. ¹⁴ And He ordered him to tell no one, saying, “But go and ^(L)show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” ¹⁵ But ^(M)the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. ¹⁶ But Jesus Himself would often slip away ^[d]to the ^[e]wilderness and ^(N)pray.

A Man Lowered Through a Roof

^17 [f]One day He was teaching, and ^(O)there were some Pharisees and ^(P)teachers of the Law sitting there who had ^(Q)come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem; and ^(R)the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. ^18 (S)And some men were carrying a man on a stretcher who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. ¹⁹ But when they did not find any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on ^(T)the roof and let him down ^(U)through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. ²⁰ And seeing their faith, He said, “^[g]Friend, ^(V)your sins are forgiven you.” ²¹ The scribes and the Pharisees ^(W)began thinking of the implications, saying, “^(X)Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? ^(Y)Who can forgive sins, except God alone?” ²² But Jesus, ^[h]aware of their thoughts, responded and said to them, “Why are you thinking this way in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” He said to the ^(Z)man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher, and go home.” ²⁵ And immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home ^(AA)glorifying God. ²⁶ And ^[i]they were all struck with astonishment and began ^(AB)glorifying God. They were also filled ^(AC)with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today!”

Call of Levi (Matthew)

^27 (AD)After that He went out and looked at a tax collector named ^[j](AE)Levi sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” ²⁸ And he ^(AF)left everything behind, and got up and began following Him.

²⁹ And ^(AG)Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a large crowd of ^(AH)tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. ^30 (AI)The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling to His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and ^[k]sinners?” ³¹ And Jesus answered and said to them, “^(AJ)It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners.”

³³ And they said to Him, “^(AK)The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do ^[l]the same, but Yours eat and drink.” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the ^[m]attendants of the groom fast while the groom is with them, can you? ^35 (AL)But the days will come; and when the groom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” ³⁶ And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the patch from the new garment will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. ³⁹ And no one, after drinking old wine wants new; for he says, ‘The old is fine.’”

Paul Confronts the Corinthians

10 Now ^(A)I, Paul, myself ^(B)urge you by the ^(C)meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who ^(D)am ^[a]meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent! ² I ask that ^(E)when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I intend to be courageous against ^(F)some, who regard us as if we walked ^(G)according to the flesh. ³ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage battle ^(H)according to the flesh, ⁴ for the ^(I)weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but ^[b]divinely powerful ^(J)for the destruction of fortresses. ⁵ We are destroying arguments and all ^(K)arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the ^(L)obedience of Christ, ⁶ and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever ^(M)your obedience is complete.

^7 [c](N)You are looking at ^[d]things as they are outwardly. ^(O)If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ’s, have him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ’s, ^(P)so too are we. ⁸ For if ^(Q)I boast somewhat ^[e]more about our ^(R)authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be put to shame, ^9 [f]for I do not want to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters. ¹⁰ For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his ^[g]personal presence is ^(S)unimpressive and ^(T)his speech contemptible.” ¹¹ Have such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present.

¹² For we do not presume to rank or compare ourselves with ^[h]some of those who ^(U)commend themselves; but when they ^[i]measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they have no understanding. ¹³ But we will not boast ^(V)beyond our measure, but ^[j](W)within the measure of the ^[k]domain which God assigned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you. ¹⁴ For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for ^(X)we were the first to come even as far as you in the ^(Y)gospel of Christ; ¹⁵ not boasting ^(Z)beyond our measure, that is, in ^(AA)other people’s labors, but with the hope that as ^(AB)your faith grows, we will be, ^[l]within our ^[m]domain, ^(AC)enlarged even more by you, ¹⁶ so as to ^(AD)preach the gospel even to ^(AE)the regions beyond you, and not to boast ^[n](AF)in what has been accomplished in the domain of another. ¹⁷ But ^(AG)the one who boasts is to boast in the Lord. ¹⁸ For it is not the one who ^(AH)commends himself that is approved, but the one ^(AI)whom the Lord commends.

Paul Defends His Apostleship

11 I wish that you would ^(AJ)bear with me in a little ^(AK)foolishness; but ^[o]indeed you are bearing with me. ² For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I ^(AL)betrothed you to one husband, to ^(AM)present you as a pure virgin to Christ. ³ But I am afraid that, as the ^(AN)serpent deceived Eve by his trickery, your minds will be led astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ. ⁴ For if ^[p]one comes and preaches ^(AO)another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a ^(AP)different spirit which you have not received, or a ^(AQ)different gospel which you have not accepted, this you ^(AR)tolerate ^(AS)very well! ⁵ For I consider myself ^(AT)not in the least inferior to the ^[q]most eminent apostles. ⁶ But even if I am ^(AU)unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in ^(AV)knowledge; in fact, in every way we have ^(AW)made this evident to you in all things.

⁷ Or ^(AX)did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the ^(AY)gospel of God to you ^(AZ)without charge? ⁸ I robbed other churches by ^(BA)taking wages from them to serve you; ⁹ and when I was present with you and was in need, I was ^(BB)not a burden to anyone; for when ^(BC)the brothers came from ^(BD)Macedonia they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from ^(BE)being a burden to you, ^[r]and will continue to do so. ^10 (BF)As the truth of Christ is in me, ^(BG)this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of ^(BH)Achaia. ¹¹ Why? ^(BI)Because I do not love you? ^(BJ)God knows that I do!

¹² But what I am doing I will also continue to do, ^(BK)so that I may eliminate the opportunity from those who want an opportunity to be ^[s]regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting. ¹³ For such men are ^(BL)false apostles, ^(BM)deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ No wonder, for even ^(BN)Satan disguises himself as an ^(BO)angel of light. ¹⁵ Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, ^(BP)whose end will be according to their deeds.

^16 (BQ)Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, so that I also may boast a little. ¹⁷ What I am saying, I am not saying ^[t](BR)as the Lord would, but as ^(BS)in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting. ¹⁸ Since ^(BT)many boast ^(BU)according to the flesh, I will boast also. ¹⁹ For you, ^(BV)being so wise, tolerate the foolish gladly. ²⁰ For you tolerate it if anyone ^(BW)enslaves you, if anyone ^(BX)devours you, if anyone ^(BY)takes advantage of you, if anyone ^(BZ)exalts himself, if anyone ^(CA)hits you in the face. ²¹ To my ^(CB)shame I must say that we have been ^(CC)weak by comparison.

But in whatever respect anyone else ^(CD)is bold—I am ^(CE)speaking in foolishness—I too am bold. ²² Are they ^(CF)Hebrews? ^(CG)So am I. Are they ^(CH)Israelites? ^(CI)So am I. Are they ^[u](CJ)descendants of Abraham? ^(CK)So am I. ²³ Are they ^(CL)servants of Christ?—I am speaking as if insane—I more so; in ^(CM)far more labors, in ^(CN)far more imprisonments, ^[v](CO)beaten times without number, often in danger of ^(CP)death. ²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews ^(CQ)thirty-nine lashes. ²⁵ Three times I was ^(CR)beaten with rods, once I was ^(CS)stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent adrift at sea. ²⁶ I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my ^(CT)countrymen, dangers from the ^(CU)Gentiles, dangers in the ^(CV)city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among ^(CW)false brothers; ²⁷ I have been in ^(CX)labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in ^(CY)hunger and thirst, often ^(CZ)without food, in cold and ^[w](DA)exposure. ²⁸ Apart from such ^[x]external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for ^(DB)all the churches. ²⁹ Who is ^(DC)weak without my being weak? Who is ^[y]led into sin ^[z]without my intense concern?

³⁰ If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my ^(DD)weakness. ³¹ The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, ^(DE)He who is blessed forever, ^(DF)knows that I am not lying. ³² In ^(DG)Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was ^(DH)guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me, ³³ and I was let down in a basket ^(DI)through a window ^[aa]in the wall, and so escaped his hands.