The Daily Audio Bible

Jesus Calls Levi The Tax Collector And Eats With His Friends: I Came For Sinners

¹³ And He went out again beside the sea. And all the multitude^[a] was coming to Him. And He was teaching them. ¹⁴ And while passing on He saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax-office^[b]. And He says to him “Be following Me!” And having stood-up, he followed Him. ¹⁵ And it comes about that He was reclining [to eat] in his^[c] house. And many tax-collectors and sinners were reclining-back-with Jesus and His disciples. For there were many, and they were following Him. ¹⁶ And the scribes of the Pharisees, having seen that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, were saying to His disciples “Why is it that^[d] He is eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷ And having heard, Jesus says to them that “The ones being strong have no need of a physician, but the ones being ill. I did not come to call righteous ones, but sinners”.

Why Do Your Disciples Not Fast? The Bridegroom Is Here. New Wine Needs New Wineskins

¹⁸ And the disciples of John and the Pharisees^[e] were fasting. And they come and say to Him, “For what reason are the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fasting, but Your disciples are not fasting?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, “The sons of the wedding-hall^[f] cannot be fasting while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long a time as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot be fasting. ²⁰ But days will come when the bridegroom is taken-away from them, and then they will fast in that day. ²¹ No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise the fullness [of the patch] takes from it— the new from the old— and a worse tear^[g] takes place. ²² And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the wine will burst the wineskins, and the wine is lost, and the wineskins. But one puts new wine into fresh^[h] wineskins”.

The Disciples Pluck Grain On The Sabbath. I Am Lord of The Sabbath

²³ And it came about that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way while plucking^[i] the heads [of grain]. ²⁴ And the Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look! Why are they doing on the Sabbath what is not lawful?” ²⁵ And He says to them, “Did you never read [in 1 Sam 21:1-6] what David did when he had a need and was hungry, he and the ones with him— ²⁶ how he entered into the house of God in the time^[j] of Abiathar the high-priest and ate the Bread of Presentation^[k] which is not lawful for anyone to eat but the priests, and he gave it also to the ones being with him?” ²⁷ And He was saying to them, “The Sabbath was made^[l] for the sake of mankind, and not mankind for the sake of the Sabbath. ²⁸ So then^[m], the Son of Man is Lord even^[n] of the Sabbath”.

Is It Lawful To Heal On The Sabbath? Jesus Heals a Man, Inflaming The Pharisees

3 And He entered again into the synagogue. And there was a man there having his hand having become-withered. ² And they were closely-watching Him to see if He would cure him on the Sabbath, in order that they might accuse Him. ³ And He says to the man having the withered hand, “Arise into the middle”. ⁴ And He says to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do-harm^[o], to save a life or to kill?” But the ones were being silent. ⁵ And having looked-around-at them with anger, while being deeply-grieved at the hardness of their heart, He says to the man, “Stretch out the hand”. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ⁶ And having gone out, the Pharisees immediately were giving counsel against Him with the Herodians^[p] so that they might destroy Him.