9:1 After getting into a boat he crossed to the other side and came to his own town. ¹  9:2 Just then ²  some people ³  brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. ⁴  When Jesus saw their ⁵  faith, he said to the paralytic, “Have courage, son! Your sins are forgiven.” ⁶  9:3 Then ⁷  some of the experts in the law ⁸  said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming!” ⁹  9:4 When Jesus saw their reaction he said, “Why do you respond with evil in your hearts? 9:5 Which is easier, ¹⁰  to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? 9:6 But so that you may know ¹¹  that the Son of Man ¹²  has authority on earth to forgive sins” – then he said to the paralytic ¹³  – “Stand up, take your stretcher, and go home.” ¹⁴  9:7 And he stood up and went home. ¹⁵  9:8 When ¹⁶  the crowd saw this, they were afraid ¹⁷  and honored God who had given such authority to men. ¹⁸ 

9:9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. ¹⁹  “Follow me,” he said to him. And he got up and followed him. 9:10 As ²⁰  Jesus ²¹  was having a meal ²²  in Matthew’s ²³  house, many tax collectors ²⁴  and sinners came and ate with Jesus and his disciples. 9:11 When the Pharisees ²⁵  saw this they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ²⁶  9:12 When ²⁷  Jesus heard this he said, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. ²⁸  9:13 Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ ²⁹  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

9:14 Then John’s ³⁰  disciples came to Jesus ³¹  and asked, “Why do we and the Pharisees ³²  fast often, ³³  but your disciples don’t fast?” 9:15 Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests ³⁴  cannot mourn while the bridegroom ³⁵  is with them, can they? But the days ³⁶  are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, ³⁷  and then they will fast. 9:16 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, because the patch will pull away from the garment and the tear will be worse. 9:17 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; ³⁸  otherwise the skins burst and the wine is spilled out and the skins are destroyed. Instead they put new wine into new wineskins ³⁹  and both are preserved.”