Matthew 9 (New American Standard)

A Paralytic Healed

1 Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to ¹His own city. 2 ²And they brought to Him a ³paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, "⁴Take courage, ^ason ; ⁵your sins are forgiven." 3 And some of the scribes said ^bto themselves, "This fellow ⁶blasphemes." 4 And Jesus ⁷knowing their thoughts said, "Why are you thinking evil in your hearts ? 5 "Which is easier, to say, '⁸Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, and walk '? 6 "But so that you may know that ⁹the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins "-then He said to the ¹⁰paralytic, "Get up, pick up your bed and go home." 7 And he got up and ^cwent home. 8 But when the crowds saw this, they were ^dawestruck, and ¹¹glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

Matthew Called

9 ¹²As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called ¹³Matthew, sitting in the tax collector's booth ; and He said to him, "¹⁴Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him. 10 Then it happened that as ^eJesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and ^fsinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, "¹⁵Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners ?" 12 But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not ¹⁶those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. 13 "But go and learn ^g17what this means : '¹⁸I DESIRE ^hCOMPASSION, ⁱAND NOT SACRIFICE,' for ¹⁹I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

The Question about Fasting

14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, "Why do we and ²⁰the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast ?" 15 And Jesus said to them, "The ^jattendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 "But no one puts ^ka patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment ; for ^lthe patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. 17 "Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins ; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined ; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved."

Miracles of Healing

18 ²¹While He was saying these things to them, ^ma synagogue ⁿofficial came and ^o22bowed down before Him, and said, "My daughter has just died ; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live." 19 Jesus got up and began to follow him, and so did His disciples. 20 And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched ²³the ^pfringe of His ^qcloak ; 21 for she was saying ^rto herself, "If I only ²⁴touch His garment, I will ^sget well." 22 But Jesus turning and seeing her said, "Daughter, ²⁵take courage ; ²⁶your faith has ^tmade you well." ^uAt once the woman was ^vmade well. 23 When Jesus came into the ^wofficial's house, and saw ²⁷the flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder, 24 He said, "Leave ; for the girl ²⁸has not died, but is asleep." And they began laughing at Him. 25 But ²⁹when the crowd had been sent out, He entered and ³⁰took her by the hand, and the girl ^xgot up. 26 ³¹This news spread throughout all that land. 27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, "Have mercy on us, ³²Son of David !" 28 When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this ?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord." 29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, "^yIt shall be done to you ³³according to your faith." 30 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus ³⁴sternly warned them: "See that no one knows about this!" 31 But they went out and ³⁵spread the news about Him throughout all that land. 32 As they were going out, ³⁶a mute, ³⁷demon-possessed man ^zwas brought to Him. 33 After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke ; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, "³⁸Nothing like this has ^aaever been seen in Israel." 34 But the Pharisees were saying, "He ³⁹casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons." 35 Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, ⁴⁰teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. 36 ⁴¹Seeing the ^bbpeople, He felt compassion for them, ⁴²because they were ^ccdistressed and ^dddispirited like sheep ^eewithout a shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, "⁴³The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38 "Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."