Matthew 9

¹ He got back in the boat, crossed the water and came to his home town.

² And suddenly some people brought him a paralytic stretched out on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesussaid to the paralytic, 'Take comfort, my child, your sins are forgiven.'

³ And now some scribes said to themselves, 'This man is being blasphemous.'

⁴ Knowing what was in their minds Jesus said, 'Why do you have such wicked thoughts in your hearts?

⁵ Now, which of these is easier: to say, "Your sins are forgiven," or to say, "Get up and walk"?

⁶ But to prove to you that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins,' -- then he said to theparalytic-'get up, pick up your bed and go off home.'

⁷ And the man got up and went home.

⁸ A feeling of awe came over the crowd when they saw this, and they praised God for having given suchauthority to human beings.

⁹ As Jesus was walking on from there he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he saidto him, 'Fol ow me.' And he got up and followed him.

¹⁰ Now while he was at table in the house it happened that a number of tax col ectors and sinners cameto sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples.

¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, 'Why does your master eat with tax col ectorsand sinners?'

¹² When he heard this he replied, 'It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick.

¹³ Go and learn the meaning of the words: Mercy is what pleases me, not sacrifice. And indeed I came tocal not the upright, but sinners.'

¹⁴ Then John's disciples came to him and said, 'Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but yourdisciples do not?'

¹⁵ Jesus replied, 'Surely the bridegroom's attendants cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is stil withthem? But the time will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they wil fast.

¹⁶ No one puts a piece of unshrunken cloth onto an old cloak, because the patch pul s away from thecloak and the tear gets worse.

¹⁷ Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, the wine runs out, and theskins are lost. No; they put new wine in fresh skins and both are preserved.'

¹⁸ While he was speaking to them, suddenly one of the officials came up, who bowed low in front of himand said, 'My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and her life will be saved.'

¹⁹ Jesus rose and, with his disciples, fol owed him.

²⁰ Then suddenly from behind him came a woman, who had been suffering from a haemorrhage fortwelve years, and she touched the fringe of his cloak,

²¹ for she was thinking, 'If only I can touch his cloak I shall be saved.'

²² Jesus turned round and saw her; and he said to her, 'Courage, my daughter, your faith has saved you.'And from that moment the woman was saved.

²³ When Jesus reached the official's house and saw the flute-players, with the crowd making acommotion, he said,

²⁴ 'Get out of here; the little girl is not dead; she is asleep.' And they ridiculed him.

²⁵ But when the people had been turned out he went inside and took her by the hand; and she stood up.

²⁶ And the news of this spread al round the countryside.

²⁷ As Jesus went on his way two blind men fol owed him shouting, 'Take pity on us, son of David.'

²⁸ And when Jesus reached the house the blind men came up to him and he said to them, 'Do youbelieve I can do this?' They said, 'Lord, we do.'

²⁹ Then he touched their eyes saying, 'According to your faith, let it be done to you.'

³⁰ And their sight returned. Then Jesus sternly warned them, 'Take care that no one learns about this.'

³¹ But when they had gone away, they talked about him al over the countryside.

³² They had only just left when suddenly a man was brought to him, a dumb demoniac.

³³ And when the devil was driven out, the dumb man spoke and the people were amazed and said,'Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.'

³⁴ But the Pharisees said, 'It is through the prince of devils that he drives out devils.'

³⁵ Jesus made a tour through al the towns and vil ages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming thegood news of the kingdom and curing al kinds of disease and al kinds of il ness.

³⁶ And when he saw the crowds he felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, likesheep without a shepherd.

³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of theharvest to send out labourers to his harvest.'