5:1  Now it happened that while the crowd pressed around Him and listened to the word of God, He stood by the lake of Gennesaret;

5:2  and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and washed their nets.

5:3  And He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat.

5:4  hen He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch."

5:5  Simon answered and said, "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets."

5:6  When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break;

5:7  so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink.

5:8  But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, "Go away from me Lord, for I realize my sinfulness!"

5:9  For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken;

5:10  and so also came James and John, sons of Zebedee, who had become partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not fear, from now on you will catch men."

5:11  When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

5:12  While He traveled in one of the cities, behold, there came a man covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You will, You can make me clean."

5:13  And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, "I will; become cleansed." And immediately the leprosy left him.

5:14  And He ordered him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

5:15  But the news about Him spread even farther, and large crowds gathered to hear Him and to receive healing of their sicknesses.

5:16  But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

5:17  One day He taught; and some Pharisees and teachers of the law sat there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord became available for Him to perform healing.

5:18  And some men carried on a bed a man who had suffered paralysis; and they tried to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him.

5:19  But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.

5:20  Seeing their faith, He said, "Friend, I forgive your sins."

5:21  The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "What kind of man do we hear who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?"

5:22  But Jesus, aware of their reasoning, answered and said to them, "Why do you reason in your hearts?

5:23  "Which do you consider it easier, to say, 'I forgive your sins,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?

5:24  "But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,"--He said to the paralytic--"I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home."

5:25  Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had reclined on, and went home glorifying God.

5:26  They all became struck with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they filled with fear, saying, "We have seen remarkable things today."

5:27  After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, "Follow Me."

5:28  And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.

5:29  And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there gathered a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who reclined at the table with them.

5:30  The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?"

5:31  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who have attained wellness do not need a physician, but those who have become sick.

5:32  "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."

5:33  And they said to Him, "The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink."

5:34  And Jesus said to them, "You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom remains with them, can you?

5:35  "But the days will come; and when the bridegroom moves away from them, then they will fast in those days."

5:36  And He also told them a parable: "No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.

5:37  "And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will spill out, and the skins will deteriorate.

5:38  "But we must put new wine into fresh wineskins.

5:39  "And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, 'The old seems good enough.'"