5:12 While 12 Jesus 13 was in one of the towns, 14 a man came 15 to him who was covered with 16 leprosy. 17 When 18 he saw Jesus, he bowed down with his face to the ground 19 and begged him, 20 “Lord, if 21 you are willing, you can make me clean.” 5:13 So 22 he stretched out his hand and touched 23 him, saying, “I am willing. Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him. 5:14 Then 24 he ordered the man 25 to tell no one, 26 but commanded him, 27 “Go 28 and show yourself to a priest, and bring the offering 29 for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, 30 as a testimony to them.” 31 5:15 But the news about him spread even more, 32 and large crowds were gathering together to hear him 33 and to be healed of their illnesses. 5:16 Yet Jesus himself 34 frequently withdrew 35 to the wilderness 36 and prayed.
5:17 Now on 37 one of those days, while he was teaching, there were Pharisees 38 and teachers of the law 39 sitting nearby (who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem), 40 and the power of the Lord was with him 41 to heal. 5:18 Just then 42 some men showed up, carrying a paralyzed man 43 on a stretcher. 44 They 45 were trying to bring him in and place him before Jesus. 46 5:19 But 47 since they found 48 no way to carry him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof 49 and let him down on the stretcher 50 through the roof tiles 51 right 52 in front of Jesus. 53 5:20 When 54 Jesus 55 saw their 56 faith he said, “Friend, 57 your sins are forgiven.” 58 5:21 Then 59 the experts in the law 60 and the Pharisees began to think 61 to themselves, 62 “Who is this man 63 who is uttering blasphemies? 64 Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 5:22 When Jesus perceived 65 their hostile thoughts, 66 he said to them, 67 “Why are you raising objections 68 within yourselves? 5:23 Which is easier, 69 to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? 5:24 But so that you may know 70 that the Son of Man 71 has authority on earth to forgive sins” – he said to the paralyzed man 72 – “I tell you, stand up, take your stretcher 73 and go home.” 74 5:25 Immediately 75 he stood up before them, picked 76 up the stretcher 77 he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying 78 God. 5:26 Then 79 astonishment 80 seized them all, and they glorified 81 God. They were filled with awe, 82 saying, “We have seen incredible 83 things 84 today.” 85
5:27 After 86 this, Jesus 87 went out and saw a tax collector 88 named Levi 89 sitting at the tax booth. 90 “Follow me,” 91 he said to him. 5:28 And he got up and followed him, leaving everything 92 behind. 93
5:29 Then 94 Levi gave a great banquet 95 in his house for Jesus, 96 and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting 97 at the table with them. 5:30 But 98 the Pharisees 99 and their experts in the law 100 complained 101 to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 102 5:31 Jesus 103 answered them, “Those who are well don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. 104 5:32 I have not come 105 to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” 106
5:33 Then 107 they said to him, “John’s 108 disciples frequently fast 109 and pray, 110 and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, 111 but yours continue to eat and drink.” 112 5:34 So 113 Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the wedding guests 114 fast while the bridegroom 115 is with them, can you? 116 5:35 But those days are coming, and when the bridegroom is taken from them, 117 at that time 118 they will fast.” 5:36 He also told them a parable: 119 “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews 120 it on an old garment. If he does, he will have torn 121 the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 122 5:37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. 123 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. 124 5:39 125 No 126 one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’” 127