Mark

¹After some time, when Jesus returned to Capernaum, it was heard that he was in the house. ²Immediately, many people gathered so that there was no more room, not even around the door. As Jesus was preaching the word to them, ³four men came, carrying a paralytic to him. ⁴Since they could not come near Jesus⁴²⁰ because of the crowd, they removed the roof where he was. When they had broken it up, they let down the mat which the paralytic was lying on. ⁵Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins have been forgiven you.”

⁶But there were some of the scribes sitting there, and they reasoned in their hearts, ⁷”Why does this man speak blasphemies like that? Who can forgive sins except God alone?”

⁸Immediately, Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were reasoning within themselves in this way. He asked them, “Why do you reason these things in your hearts? ⁹Which is easier, to tell the paralytic, ‘Your sins have been forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed, 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 tell you, arise and take up your mat, and go to your house!”

¹²At once, the man arose and took up the mat, and went out in front of everyone. The people were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

The calling of Levi (Matthew)—About fasting

¹³Jesus went out again by the seaside. The crowd came to him and he taught them. ¹⁴As Jesus⁴²¹ was passing by, he saw Levi,⁴²² the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me!” And Levi arose and followed Jesus.

¹⁵It then happened that Jesus was reclining at the table in Levi’s house, and many tax collectors and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him. ¹⁶The scribes and the Pharisees, when they saw that Jesus⁴²³ was eating with tax collectors and sinners, said to his disciples, “Why is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷When Jesus heard it, he replied to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”⁴²⁴

¹⁸The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting, and they came to ask him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?”

¹⁹Jesus told them, “Can the guests of the wedding⁴²⁵ fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast! ²⁰But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. ²¹No one sews a piece of new cloth on an old garment, or else the patch shrinks and tears away from the old, and a worse hole is made. ²²No one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine bursts the skins, the wine is poured out, and the skins are destroyed. Instead, new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.”

Plucking grains on the Sabbath—The Lord of the Sabbath

²³Now it happened that he was going on the Sabbath day through the fields of grain; and his disciples, as they went, began to pluck some heads of grain. ²⁴The Pharisees asked Jesus,⁴²⁶ “Behold, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath day?”

²⁵Jesus replied, “Have you never read what David and those with him did, when he had need and was hungry? ²⁶How he entered into the house of God (in the section about Abiathar⁴²⁷ the high priest) and ate the bread of the Presence,⁴²⁸ which is not lawful [for anyone] except for the priests to eat. And [how] David⁴²⁹ also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind⁴³⁰ for the Sabbath! ²⁸Therefore, the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

The healing of a man with a withered hand—Other healings

420. Greek “him”
421. Greek “he”
422. Also called Matthew
423. Greek “he”
424. CT omits “to repentance”
425. Literally “sons of the bridechamber”
426. Greek “him”
427. Compare Mark 12:26 and Luke 20:37, which refer to a particular section or passage of sacred scripture. See 1 Samuel 21 for the specific story of the encounter between David and Ahimelech (not Abiathar). This entire section had Abiathar as main character rather than Ahimelech, which is why it would have been named or referred to as “epi; ~Abiaqar.” See also “Mark 2:26 and the Problem of Abiathar” by Daniel B. Wallace.
428. Or “show bread”
429. Greek “he”
430. Here, the Greek a;nqrwpoõ is clearly inclusive