5:12 While 1 Jesus 2 was in one of the towns, 3 a man came 4 to him who was covered with 5 leprosy. 6 When 7 he saw Jesus, he bowed down with his face to the ground 8 and begged him, 9 “Lord, if 10 you are willing, you can make me clean.” 5:13 So 11 he stretched out his hand and touched 12 him, saying, “I am willing. Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him. 5:14 Then 13 he ordered the man 14 to tell no one, 15 but commanded him, 16 “Go 17 and show yourself to a priest, and bring the offering 18 for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, 19 as a testimony to them.” 20 5:15 But the news about him spread even more, 21 and large crowds were gathering together to hear him 22 and to be healed of their illnesses. 5:16 Yet Jesus himself 23 frequently withdrew 24 to the wilderness 25 and prayed.
5:17 Now on 26 one of those days, while he was teaching, there were Pharisees 27 and teachers of the law 28 sitting nearby (who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem), 29 and the power of the Lord was with him 30 to heal. 5:18 Just then 31 some men showed up, carrying a paralyzed man 32 on a stretcher. 33 They 34 were trying to bring him in and place him before Jesus. 35 5:19 But 36 since they found 37 no way to carry him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof 38 and let him down on the stretcher 39 through the roof tiles 40 right 41 in front of Jesus. 42 5:20 When 43 Jesus 44 saw their 45 faith he said, “Friend, 46 your sins are forgiven.” 47 5:21 Then 48 the experts in the law 49 and the Pharisees began to think 50 to themselves, 51 “Who is this man 52 who is uttering blasphemies? 53 Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 5:22 When Jesus perceived 54 their hostile thoughts, 55 he said to them, 56 “Why are you raising objections 57 within yourselves? 5:23 Which is easier, 58 to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? 5:24 But so that you may know 59 that the Son of Man 60 has authority on earth to forgive sins” – he said to the paralyzed man 61 – “I tell you, stand up, take your stretcher 62 and go home.” 63 5:25 Immediately 64 he stood up before them, picked 65 up the stretcher 66 he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying 67 God. 5:26 Then 68 astonishment 69 seized them all, and they glorified 70 God. They were filled with awe, 71 saying, “We have seen incredible 72 things 73 today.” 74
5:27 After 75 this, Jesus 76 went out and saw a tax collector 77 named Levi 78 sitting at the tax booth. 79 “Follow me,” 80 he said to him. 5:28 And he got up and followed him, leaving everything 81 behind. 82
5:29 Then 83 Levi gave a great banquet 84 in his house for Jesus, 85 and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting 86 at the table with them. 5:30 But 87 the Pharisees 88 and their experts in the law 89 complained 90 to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 91 5:31 Jesus 92 answered them, “Those who are well don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. 93 5:32 I have not come 94 to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” 95
5:33 Then 96 they said to him, “John’s 97 disciples frequently fast 98 and pray, 99 and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, 100 but yours continue to eat and drink.” 101 5:34 So 102 Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the wedding guests 103 fast while the bridegroom 104 is with them, can you? 105 5:35 But those days are coming, and when the bridegroom is taken from them, 106 at that time 107 they will fast.” 5:36 He also told them a parable: 108 “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews 109 it on an old garment. If he does, he will have torn 110 the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 111 5:37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. 112 If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 5:38 Instead new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 113 5:39 114 No 115 one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’” 116