Matthew 9

¹And getting into a boat, he crossed over and came to his own city.

²And look, they were bringing to him a paralyzed man lying on a mat. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralyzed man, "Take courage, child—your sins are forgiven." ³And look, some of the scribes said among themselves, "This man blasphemes." ⁴And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? ⁵For which is easier—to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'? ⁶But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"—then he says to the paralyzed man, "Rise, pick up your mat, and go to your home." ⁷And he rose and went away to his home. ⁸And when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck and glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings.

⁹And as Jesus was passing on from there, he saw a man sitting at the tax booth, called Matthew, and says to him, "Follow me." And getting up, he followed him. ¹⁰And it happened that as he was reclining at table in the house, look, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining at table with Jesus and his disciples. ¹¹And seeing this, the Pharisees said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" ¹²But hearing this, he said, "The healthy have no need of a physician—but the sick do. ¹³Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

¹⁴Then the disciples of John come to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?" ¹⁵And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests mourn while the bridegroom is with them? But days will come when the bridegroom is taken from them, and then they will fast. ¹⁶And no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. ¹⁷Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved."

¹⁸While he was saying these things to them, look, an official came and was bowing before him, saying, "My daughter has just now died. But come and lay your hand on her, and she will live." ¹⁹And Jesus rose and followed him, along with his disciples. ²⁰And look, a woman who had been suffering from bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment. ²¹For she was saying to herself, "If I only touch his garment, I will be healed." ²²But Jesus turned and saw her and said, "Take courage, daughter—your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that hour.

²³And when Jesus came to the official's house and saw the flute players and the crowd in uproar, ²⁴he said, "Go away, for the girl has not died but is sleeping." And they laughed at him. ²⁵But when the crowd had been put out, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl rose. ²⁶And the news of this went out into all that region.

²⁷And as Jesus was passing on from there, two blind men followed him, crying out and saying, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" ²⁸And when he came into the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus says to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They say to him, "Yes, Lord." ²⁹Then he touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith, let it be done to you." ³⁰And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, "See that no one knows about this." ³¹But they went out and spread the news about him throughout all that region.

³²As they were going out, look, they brought to him a mute man who was demon-possessed. ³³And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds marveled, saying, "Never has anything like this been seen in Israel!" ³⁴But the Pharisees were saying, "By the ruler of the demons he casts out demons."

³⁵And Jesus was traveling through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every illness. ³⁶And seeing the crowds, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then he says to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. ³⁸Therefore, plead with the lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest."