unto him for the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the 5 sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, 6 thy sins are forgiven thee. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and rea7 soning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins, 8 but God only? And immediately, when Jesus perceived in his spirit, that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? 9 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, 10 Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk ;* but that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins? He saith to 11 the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine 12 house. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw any thing like this. 13 And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he 14 taught them. And as he passed along, he saw Levit the son of Alpheus, sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. 15 And he arose, and followed him. And it came to pass, that as Jesus sat at meat in his * Neither could be done without divine power. + Levi is the same as Matthew. house, many publicans and sinners* sat also together with Jesus and his disciples; for there 16 were many, and they followed him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and 17 drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick; I came not to call the 18 righteous, but sinners to repentance.t Now the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: And they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Phar19 isees fast, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bride20 groom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they 21 fast in those days. No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment : else the * Publicans and sinners; that is, men who made no particular profession of religion. + That is, I come to instruct and reform, to seek and to save the ignorant. It would seem by this remark, that John's disciples joined with the Pharisees in objecting to the conduet of Jesus: and it is believed by the learned, that the disciples of John formed a sect, which looked for another to come as the true Messiah. It would not be proper for them to fast. They shall then fast-they will be in trouble and sor Tow. new piece that filled it up, taketh away from 22 the old, and the rent is made worse. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred; but new wine must be put into new bottles.* 23 And it came to pass, that he went through the cornfields on the sabbath-day: and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of 24 corn. And the Pharisees said unto him, Be hold, why do they on the sabbath-day that 25 which is not lawful? And he said unto them Have ye never read what David did when he had need, and was hungry, he, and they that 26 were with him ?+ How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest and did eat the shew bread, which is not lawful to eat, but for the priests, and gave also to 27 them which were with him? And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, 28 and not man for the sabbath : Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.. CHAP. III. . I AND he entered again into the synagogue; and was a man there who had a withered hand. 2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath-day; that they might *The bottles were of leather. † Any mere forms or rites of religion may be dispensed with in cases of urgency. The Sabbath was designed for the benefit and in provement of man; and not man merely to observe the Sabbath. 3 have a charge against him. And he saith unto the man who had the withered hand, Stand 4 forth. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath-days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? but they were silent. 5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. 6 And the Pharisees went forth, and immediately conspired with the Herodianst against him, 7 how they might destroy him. But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed 8 him, and from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things 9 he did, came unto him. And he spake to his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him, because of the multitude, lest they should 10 throng him. For he had healed many; inso much that they pressed upon him to touch 11 him, as many as had plagues. And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of 12 God. And he strictly charged them, that they * Well might he be angry at such perverseness. + Men of no religion, mere politicians, and men of the world; partizans of Herod, the reigning prince. The Pharisees hated Herod and the Romans, by whose authority he ruled the Jews. But to accomplish their malignant purposes against Jesus, they united with this prince, and pretended our Lord was aiming at political and civil power. 13 should not make him known. And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom 14 he would and they came unto him. And he ordained twelve that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to 15 preach; and to have power to heal sicknesses, 16 and to cast out devils. And Simon he sur17 named Peter, and James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, the sons 18 of thunder ;) and Andrew and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew and Thomas, and James the son of Alpheus, and Thaddeus, and 19 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot,which also betrayed him and they went into an 20 house. And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat 21 bread. And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him for they said, He is beside himself. : 22 And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem, said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils. And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Sa24 tan? And if a kingdom be divided against it25 self, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house can26 not stand. And if Satan rise up against him self, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath 27 an end. No man can enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man: and then he will spoil 28 his house. Verily I say unto you, All the |