NIV, Outreach Bible for Kids NIV, Outreach Bible for Kids Sampler | Page 3

Mark 2:26   |  813
and his com­pan­ions went to look for him,
37  and when they ­found him, they ex­c laimed:
“Ev­ery­one is look­i ng for you!”
38  Jesus re­p lied, “Let us go some­w here
else — ​to the near­by vil­lag­es — ​so I can ­preach
t here also. That is why I have come.” 39  So he
trav­e led through­out Gal­i ­lee, preach­i ng in
t heir syn­a­gogues and driv­i ng out de­mons.
Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy
40  A man with lep­r o­s y  a came to him and
­ egged him on his ­k nees, “If you are will­i ng,
b
you can make me clean.”
41  Jesus was in­d ig­nant.  b He ­reached out his
hand and ­touched the man. “I am will­i ng,” he
said. “Be ­clean!” 42  Im­me­d i­ate­ly the lep­ro­sy left
him and he was cleansed.
43  Jesus sent him away at once with a ­strong
warn­i ng: 44  “See that you ­don’t tell this to any­
one. But go, show your­self to the ­priest and
of­fer the sac­r i­f ic­es that Mo­ses com­m and­e d
for your cleans­i ng, as a tes­t i­mo­ny to them.”
45  In­stead he went out and be­gan to talk free­l y,
spread­i ng the news. As a re­sult, ­Jesus ­could no
lon­ger en­ter a town open­ly but ­stayed out­side
in lone­ly plac­es. Yet the peo­ple ­still came to
him from ev­ery­where.
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man
2
A few days lat­er, when ­Jesus ­again en­tered
Ca­p er­n a­u m, the peo­ple ­heard that he
had come home. 2  They gath­ered in such ­large
num­bers that ­t here was no room left, not even
out­side the door, and he ­preached the word
to them. 3  Some men came, bring­i ng to him a
par­a ­lyzed man, car­r ied by four of them. 4  Since
they ­could not get him to ­Jesus be­cause of the
crowd, they made an open­ing in the roof ­above
Jesus by dig­g ing ­t hrough it and then low­ered
the mat the man was ly­i ng on. 5  When ­Jesus
saw ­t heir ­faith, he said to the par­a ­lyzed man,
“Son, your sins are for­g iv­en.”
6  Now some teach­ers of the law were sit­t ing
t here, think­i ng to them­selves, 7  “Why does this
fel­low talk like that? He’s blas­phem­i ng! Who
can for­g ive sins but God alone?”
8  Im­me­d i­ate­l y ­Jesus knew in his spir­it that
this was what they were think­i ng in ­t heir
hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you
think­i ng ­t hese ­t hings? 9  Which is eas­i­er: to say
to this par­a ­lyzed man, ‘Your sins are for­g iv­
en,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?
10  But I want you to know that the Son of Man
has au­t hor­i­t y on ­earth to for­g ive sins.” So he
said to the man, 11  “I tell you, get up, take your
a  40 
12  He
mat and go home.”
got up, took his mat
and ­w alked out in full view of them all. This
a mazed ev­ery­one and they ­praised God, say­
ing, “We have nev­er seen any­t hing like this!”
Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners
13  Once ­again ­Jesus went out be­side the lake.
A ­large ­c rowd came to him, and he be­gan to
teach them. 14  As he ­walked ­a long, he saw Levi
son of Al­phae­u s sit­t ing at the tax col­lec­tor’s
booth. “Fol­low me,” ­Jesus told him, and Levi
got up and fol­lowed him.
15  While ­Jesus was hav­i ng din­ner at Le­v i’s
house, many tax col­lec­tors and sin­ners were
eat­i ng with him and his dis­c i­ples, for ­t here
were many who fol­lowed him. 16  When the
teach­ers of the law who were Phar­i ­sees saw
him eat­i ng with the sin­ners and tax col­lec­tors,
they ­asked his dis­ci­ples: “Why does he eat with
tax col­lec­tors and sin­ners?”
17  On hear­i ng this, ­Jesus said to them, “It is
not the ­healthy who need a doc­tor, but the sick.
I have not come to call the righ­teous, but sin­
ners.”
Jesus Questioned About Fasting
18  Now
John’s dis­c i­ples and the Phar­i ­sees
were fast­i ng. Some peo­ple came and ­a sked
Jesus, “How is it that ­John’s dis­c i­ples and the
dis­ci­ples of the Phar­i­sees are fast­i ng, but ­yours
are not?”
19  Jesus an­s wered, “How can the ­g uests of
the bride­g room fast ­w hile he is with them?
They can­not, so long as they have him with
them. 20  But the time will come when the
bride­g room will be tak­en from them, and on
that day they will fast.
21  “No one sews a ­patch of un­s hrunk ­c loth
on an old gar­ment. Other­w ise, the new ­piece
will pull away from the old, mak­i ng the tear
worse. 22  And no one pours new wine into old
wine­skins. Other­w ise, the wine will ­burst the
skins, and both the wine and the wine­skins
will be ru­i ned. No, they pour new wine into
new wine­skins.”
Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
23  One Sab­bath ­Jesus was go­i ng ­t hrough the
grain­f ields, and as his dis­ci­ples ­walked ­a long,
they be­gan to pick some ­heads of ­g rain. 24  The
Phar­i­sees said to him, “Look, why are they do­
ing what is un­law­f ul on the Sab­bath?”
25  He an­s wered, “Have you nev­er read what
Da­v id did when he and his com­pan­ions were
hun­g ry and in need? 26  In the days of Abi­a­t har
The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin.   
manuscripts Jesus was filled with compassion   
b  41 
Many