Mark 2 – 3 1097 be gan to teach them . 14 As he walked along , he saw Levi son of Al phae us sit ting at the tax col lec tor ’ s booth . “ Fol low me ,” Jesus told him , and Levi got up and fol lowed him .
15 While Jesus was hav ing din ner at Levi ’ s house , many tax col lec tors and sin ners were eat ing with him and his dis ci ples , for there were many who fol lowed him .
16 When the teach ers of the law who were
Phar i sees saw him eat ing with the sin ners and tax col lec tors , they asked his dis ci ples : “ Why does he eat with tax col lec tors and sin ners ?”
17 On hear ing this , Jesus said to them , “ It
is not the healthy who need a doc tor , but the sick . I have not come to call the righteous , but sin ners .”
Jesus Questioned About Fasting
18 Now John ’ s dis ci ples and the Phar i sees
were fast ing . Some peo ple came and asked Jesus , “ How is it that John ’ s dis ci ples and the dis ci ples of the Phar i sees are fast ing , but yours are not ?”
19 Jesus an swered , “ How can the guests
of the bride groom fast while he is with them ? They can not , so long as they have him with them . 20 But the time will come when the bride groom will be tak en from them , and on that day they will fast .
21 “ No one sews a patch of un shrunk
cloth on an old gar ment . Other wise , the new piece will pull away from the old , making the tear worse . 22 And no one pours new wine into old wine skins . Other wise , the wine will burst the skins , and both the wine and the wine skins will be ru ined . No , they pour new wine into new wine skins .”
Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
23 One Sab bath Jesus was go ing through
the grain fields , and as his dis ci ples walked along , they be gan to pick some heads of grain . 24 The Phar i sees said to him , “ Look , why are they do ing what is un law ful on the Sab bath ?”
25 He an swered , “ Have you nev er read
what Da vid did when he and his com panions were hun gry and in need ? 26 In the days of Abi a thar the high priest , he en tered the house of God and ate the con se crat ed bread , which is law ful only for priests to eat . And he also gave some to his com pan ions .”
27 Then he said to them , “ The Sab bath was made for man , not man for the Sabbath . 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sab bath .”
Jesus Heals on the Sabbath
3
An oth er time Jesus went into the syna gogue , and a man with a shriv eled hand was there . 2 Some of them were looking for a rea son to ac cuse Jesus , so they watched him close ly to see if he would heal him on the Sab bath . 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriv eled hand , “ Stand up in front of ev ery one .”
4 Then Jesus asked them , “ Which is lawful on the Sab bath : to do good or to do evil , to save life or to kill ?” But they re mained si lent .
5 He looked around at them in an ger and ,
deep ly dis tressed at their stub born hearts , said to the man , “ Stretch out your hand .” He stretched it out , and his hand was complete ly re stored . 6 Then the Phar i sees went out and be gan to plot with the He ro di ans how they might kill Jesus .
Crowds Follow Jesus
7 Jesus with drew with his dis ci ples to
the lake , and a large crowd from Gal i lee fol lowed . 8 When they heard about all he was do ing , many peo ple came to him from Ju dea , Je ru sa lem , Id u mea , and the re gions across the Jor dan and around Tyre and Sidon . 9 Be cause of the crowd he told his disci ples to have a small boat ready for him , to keep the peo ple from crowd ing him . 10 For he had healed many , so that those with diseas es were push ing for ward to touch him .
11 When ev er the im pure spir its saw him ,
they fell down be fore him and cried out , “ You are the Son of God .” 12 But he gave them strict or ders not to tell oth ers about him .
Jesus Appoints the Twelve
13 Jesus went up on a moun tain side and
called to him those he want ed , and they came to him . 14 He ap point ed twelve a that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have author i ty to drive out de mons . 16 These are the twelve he ap point ed : Si mon ( to whom he gave the name Pe ter ), 17 James son of
a 14 Some manuscripts twelve — designating them apostles —