¹³ and leaving Nazareth, He came and ^(A)settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.

^21 (A)They *went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath Jesus ^(B)entered the synagogue and began to teach. ²² And ^(C)they were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. ²³ Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, ²⁴ saying, “^(D)What ^[a]business do you have with us, Jesus ^[b]of ^(E)Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are: ^(F)the Holy One of God!” ²⁵ And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” ²⁶ After throwing him into convulsions and crying out with a loud voice, the unclean spirit came out of him. ²⁷ And they were all ^(G)amazed, so they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” ²⁸ Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding region of Galilee.

Crowds Healed

^29 (H)And immediately after they left ^(I)the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with ^[c]James and John. ³⁰ Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and they immediately *spoke to ^[d]Jesus about her. ³¹ And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she served them.

³² Now ^(J)when evening came, ^(K)after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were ^(L)demon-possessed. ³³ And the whole ^(M)city had gathered at the door. ³⁴ And He ^(N)healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew ^[e]who He was.

^35 (O)And in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and ^(P)prayed there for a time. ³⁶ Simon and his companions eagerly searched for Him; ³⁷ and they found Him and *said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” ³⁸ He *said to them, “Let’s go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may also ^[f]preach there; for this is why I came.” ^39 (Q)And He went into their synagogues ^[g]preaching throughout Galilee, and casting out the demons.

^40 (R)And a man with ^[h]leprosy *came to ^[i]Jesus, imploring Him and ^(S)kneeling down, and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” ⁴¹ Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, and *said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” ⁴² And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. ⁴³ And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, ⁴⁴ and He *said to him, “^(T)See that you say nothing to anyone; but ^(U)go, show yourself to the priest and ^(V)offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” ⁴⁵ But he went out and began to ^(W)proclaim it ^[j]freely and to ^(X)spread the news around, to such an extent that ^[k]Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but ^[l]stayed out in unpopulated areas; and ^(Y)they were coming to Him from everywhere.

The Paralyzed Man Healed

2 When Jesus came back to Capernaum a few days later, it was heard that He was at home. ² And ^(Z)many were gathered together, so that there was no longer space, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. ^3 (AA)And some people *came, bringing to Him a man who was ^(AB)paralyzed, carried by four men. ⁴ And when they were unable to ^[m]get to Him because of the crowd, they ^(AC)removed the roof ^[n]above Him; and after digging an opening, they let down the pallet on which the ^(AD)paralyzed man was lying. ⁵ And Jesus, seeing their faith, *said to the paralyzed man, “Son, ^(AE)your sins are forgiven.” ⁶ But some of the scribes were sitting there and thinking it over in their hearts, ⁷ “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming! ^(AF)Who can forgive sins except God alone?” ⁸ Immediately Jesus, aware ^[o]in His spirit that they were thinking that way within themselves, *said to them, “Why are you thinking about these things in your hearts? ⁹ Which is easier, to say to the ^(AG)paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? ¹⁰ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He *said to the paralyzed man, ¹¹ “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet, and go home.” ¹² And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and ^(AH)were glorifying God, saying, “^(AI)We have never seen anything like this!”

¹³ And He went out again by the seashore; and ^(AJ)all the ^[p]people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.

Levi (Matthew) Called

^14 (AK)As He passed by, He saw ^[q](AL)Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He *said to him, “^(AM)Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

¹⁵ And it *happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and ^[r]sinners were ^[s]dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. ¹⁶ When ^(AN)the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the ^[t]sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “^(AO)Why is He eating with tax collectors and ^[u]sinners?” ¹⁷ And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “^(AP)It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

^18 (AQ)John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they *came and *said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, “While the groom is with them, ^[v]the attendants of the groom cannot fast, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ But the ^(AR)days will come when the groom is taken away from them, and then they will fast, on that day.

²¹ “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, ^[w]the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. ²² And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”

Question of the Sabbath

^23 (AS)And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while ^(AT)picking the heads of grain. ²⁴ The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, ^(AU)why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵ And He *said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; ²⁶ how he entered the house of God in the ^[x]time of ^(AV)Abiathar the high priest, and ate the ^[y]consecrated bread, which ^(AW)is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷ Jesus said to them, “^(AX)The Sabbath ^[z]was made ^[aa]for man, and ^(AY)not man ^[ab]for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.”

³⁵ But Jesus ^(A)rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, it came out of him without doing him any harm. ³⁶ And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another, saying, “What is ^[a]this message? For ^(B)with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” ³⁷ And ^(C)the news about Him was spreading into every locality of the surrounding region.

Many Are Healed

^38 (D)Then He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ^(E)suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him ^[b]to help her. ³⁹ And standing over her, He ^(F)rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and served them.

^40 (G)Now while ^(H)the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He was ^(I)laying His hands on each one of them and ^(J)healing them. ⁴¹ Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are ^(K)the Son of God!” And yet He was ^(L)rebuking them and would ^(M)not allow them to speak, because they knew that He was the ^[c]Christ.

^42 (N)Now when day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and they came to Him and tried to keep Him from leaving them. ⁴³ But He said to them, “I must also preach the kingdom of God to the other cities, ^(O)because I was sent for this purpose.”

⁴⁴ So He kept on preaching in the synagogues ^(P)of ^[d]Judea.

Healing an Official’s Son

⁴⁶ Therefore He came again to ^(A)Cana of Galilee, ^(B)where He had made the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at ^(C)Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When he heard that Jesus had come ^(D)from Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and began asking Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. ⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see ^[a](E)signs and ^(F)wonders, you simply will not believe.” ⁴⁹ The royal official *said to Him, “^[b]Sir, come down before my child dies.” ⁵⁰ Jesus *said to him, “^(G)Go; your son ^[c]is alive.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went home. ⁵¹ And as he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his ^[d]son was ^[e]alive. ⁵² So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, “Yesterday at the ^[f]seventh hour the fever left him.” ⁵³ So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son is alive”; and he himself believed, and ^(H)his entire household. ⁵⁴ This is again a ^(I)second ^[g]sign that Jesus performed when He had ^(J)come from Judea into Galilee.