Luke 5
1 One day, as Jesus was standing beside the Sea of Galilee, people crowded around him to hear the word of God.
Once, when the people were pressing around Jesus as they listened to God’s message, he happened to be standing by the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats close to the shore.
2 Jesus noticed two boats lying on the shore, left there by fishermen who were washing their nets.
The fishermen had gone away from them and were washing the nets.
3 Jesus got into a boat, the one that belonged to Simon, and asked him to push it out into the water, just offshore. Then Jesus sat down in the boat and taught the people from there.
So, getting into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, Jesus asked him to push off a little way from the shore, and then sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 After he'd finished speaking, he told Simon, “Go out into deeper water, and let down your nets for a catch.”
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Push off into deep water, and throw out your nets for a haul.”
5 “Lord, we worked hard all night, and didn't catch anything. But if you say so, I'll let down the nets,” Simon replied.
“We have been hard at work all night, Sir,” answered Simon, “and have not caught anything, but, at your bidding, I will throw out the nets.”
6 Having done this, a large shoal of fish filled the nets full to breaking point.
They did so, and enclosed such a great shoal of fish that their nets began to break.
7 They waved to their partners in the other boat, asking them to come over and help. The others came over and together they filled both of the boats with fish. The boats were so full that they began to sink.
So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; and they came and filled both the boats so full of fish that they were almost sinking.
8 When Simon Peter saw what had happened, he dropped to his knees before Jesus. “Lord, please stay away from me, for I am a sinful man!” he exclaimed.
When Simon Peter saw this, he threw himself down at Jesus’ knees, exclaiming, “Master, leave me, for I am a sinful man!”
9 For he and everybody with him were completely amazed by the catch of fish that they had landed.
For he and all who were with him were lost in amazement at the haul of fish which they had made;
10 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners, felt the same way. “Don't be afraid,” Jesus told Simon. “From now on you'll be fishing for people!”
and so, too, were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners. “Do not be afraid,” Jesus said to Simon, “from today you will catch people.”
11 So they dragged the boats onto the shore, left everything, and followed Jesus.
And, when they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything, and followed him.
12 Once when Jesus was visiting one of the towns, he met a man there who had a very bad case of leprosy. The man fell with his face to the ground and begged Jesus, “Please Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean.”
On one occasion Jesus was staying in a town, when he saw a man who was covered with leprosy. When the leper saw Jesus, he threw himself on his face and implored his help, “Master, if only you are willing, you are able to make me clean.”
13 Jesus reached out and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy disappeared.
Stretching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying as he did so, “I am willing; become clean.” Instantly the leprosy left the man;
14 “Say nothing to anyone,” Jesus instructed him. “Go and show yourself to the priest and make the ceremonial offerings as required by the law of Moses as proof that you've been healed.”
and then Jesus impressed on him that he was not to say a word to anyone, “but,” he added, “set out and show yourself to the priest, and make the offerings for your cleansing, in the manner directed by Moses, as evidence of your cure.”
15 Yet the news about Jesus spread more and more. Large crowds came to hear Jesus and to be healed from their diseases.
However, the story about Jesus spread all the more, and great crowds came together to listen to him, and to be cured of their illnesses;
16 But Jesus often used to retreat to quiet places and pray.
but Jesus used to withdraw to lonely places and pray.
17 One day when Jesus was teaching, the Pharisees and religious teachers who had come from all over Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem were sitting there. The power of the Lord to heal was with him so he could heal.
On one of those days, when Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and Doctors of the Law were sitting near by. (They had come from all the villages in Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was on Jesus, so that he could work cures.)
18 Some men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They tried to take him in and lay him in front of Jesus.
And there some men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed. They tried to get him in and lay him before Jesus;
19 But they couldn't find any way through the crowd, so they went up on the roof and made a hole in the roof tiles. Then they lowered the man down on the mat, right into the crowd in front of Jesus.
but, finding no way of getting him in owing to the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him through the tiles, with his pallet, into the middle of the people and in front of Jesus.
20 When Jesus saw the trust they had in him, he said to the man, “Your sins are forgiven.”
When he saw their faith, Jesus said, “Friend, your sins have been forgiven you.”
21 The religious teachers and the Pharisees began to argue with that. “Who is this who's speaking blasphemies?” they asked. “Who can forgive sins? Only God can do that!”
The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees began debating about this. “Who is this man who speaks so blasphemously?” they asked. “Who can forgive sins except God?”
22 Jesus knew what they were arguing about, so he asked them, “Why are you thinking to question this?
When Jesus became aware of the way in which they were debating, he turned to them and exclaimed, “What are you debating with yourselves?
23 What is easier? To say your sins are forgiven, or to say get up and walk?
Which is the easier? – to say ‘Your sins have been forgiven you’? Or to say ‘Get up, and walk’?
24 However, I will prove to you that the Son of man has the authority here on earth to forgive sins.” Then he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you: Get up, pick up your mat, and go home.”
But so that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” – he spoke to the paralyzed man – “To you I say, Get up, and take up your pallet, and go to your home.”
25 Immediately the man stood up in front of them. He picked up the mat he'd been lying on, and went home, praising God as he went.
Instantly the man stood up before their eyes, took up what he had been lying on, and went to his home, praising God.
26 Everyone was completely astonished at what had happened, and in great awe they praised God, saying, “What we saw today was amazing!”
The people, one and all, were lost in amazement, and praised God; and in great awe they said, “We have seen marvelous things today!”
27 Later, as Jesus was leaving the town, he saw a tax collector called Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him.
After this, Jesus went out; and he noticed a tax-gatherer, named Levi, sitting in the tax office, and said to him, “Follow me.”
28 Levi stood up, left everything, and followed Jesus.
Levi left everything and got up and followed him.
29 Levi organized a large banquet at his home in Jesus' honor. Many tax collectors and others were in the crowd that sat down to eat with them. But the Pharisees and the religious teachers complained to Jesus' disciples, asking,
And Levi gave a great banquet at his house, in honor of Jesus; and a large number of tax collectors and others were having dinner with them.
30 “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law belonging to their party complained of this to the disciples of Jesus.
31 “Healthy people don't need a doctor—but sick people do,” Jesus replied.
In answer Jesus said, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are ill.
32 “I didn't come to call those who are living right to repentance—I came to call sinners.”
I have not come to call the religious, but the outcast, to repent.”
33 “Well, John's disciples often fast and pray, and the Pharisees' disciples do so as well. But your disciples don't—they go on eating and drinking,” they told him.
“John’s disciples,” they said to Jesus, “Often fast and say prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, while yours are eating and drinking!”
34 “Should the groomsmen fast while the bridegroom is with them?” Jesus asked.
But Jesus answered them, “Can you make the groom’s friends fast while the groom is with them?
35 “No—but the time is coming when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they can fast.”
But the days will come – a time when the groom will be taken away from them; and they will fast then, when those days come.”
36 Then he gave them an illustration: “You don't tear out a patch from new clothes to mend old clothes. Otherwise you'd ruin new clothes, and the patch from the new wouldn't match the old.
Then, as an illustration, Jesus said to them, “No one ever tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old one; for, if they do, they will not only tear the new garment, but the piece from the new one will not match the old.
37 You don't put new wine into old wineskins, because if you did the new wine would burst the wineskins. Then both wine and wineskins would be wasted.
And no one puts new wine into old wine-skins; for, if they do, the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine itself will run out, and the skins be lost.
38 You put new wine in new wineskins.
But new wine must be put into fresh skins.
39 And nobody after drinking old wine wants new wine, for they say, ‘the old tastes good.’”
No one after drinking old wine wishes for new. ‘No,’ they say, ‘the old is excellent.’”
