1And when he entered again into Capernaum after some days, it became known that he was at home. 2And many had gathered, so that there was no longer room, not even at the door, and he was speaking the word to them. 3And they came bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4And when they were not able to bring him to him because of the crowd, they removed the roof where he was. And after digging through, they lowered the stretcher on which the paralytic was lying. 5And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” 6Now some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7“Why does this man speak like this? He is blaspheming! Who is able to forgive sins except God alone?” 8And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they were reasoning like this within themselves, said to them, “Why are you considering these things in your hearts? 9Which is easier to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say ‘Get up and pick up your stretcher and walk’? 10But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—he said to the paralytic— 11“I say to you, get up, pick up your stretcher, and go to your home.” 12And he got up and immediately picked up his stretcher and went out in front of them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” 13And he went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he began to teach them. 14And as he was passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me!” And he stood up and followed him. 15And it happened that he ˻was dining˼ in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners ˻were dining with˼ Jesus and his disciples, for there were many and they were following him. 16And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, began to say to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy do not have need of a physician, but those ˻who are sick˼. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” 18And John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and they came and said to him, “˻Why˼ do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19And Jesus said to them, “The ˻bridegroom’s attendants˼ are not able to fast while the bridegroom is with them, are they? As long a time as they have the bridegroom with them, they are not able to fast. 20But days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. 21No one sews a patch of unshrunken cloth on an old garment. ˻Otherwise˼ the patch pulls away from it—the new from the old—and the tear becomes worse. 22And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. ˻Otherwise˼ the wine will burst the wineskins and the wine is destroyed and the wineskins too. But new wine is put into new wineskins.” 23And it happened that he was going through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and his disciples began to make their way while plucking off the heads of grain. 24And the Pharisees began to say to him, “Behold, why are they doing what is not permitted on the Sabbath?” 25And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he had need and he and those who were with him were hungry— 26how he entered into the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the bread of the presentation, which it is not permitted to eat (except the priests) and also gave it to those who were with him?” 27And he said to them, “The Sabbath was established for people, and not people for the Sabbath. 28So then, the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”