New Testament Plan

¹Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret;

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

³And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little distance from the land. And He sat down and continued teaching the crowds from the boat.

⁴Now when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

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

⁶And when they had done this, they caught a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to tear;

⁷so they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, to the point that they were sinking.

⁸But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”

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

¹⁰and likewise also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear; from now on you will be catching people.”

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

¹²While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

¹³And He reached out with His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him.

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

¹⁵But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

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

¹⁷One day He was teaching, and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the Law sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.

¹⁸And some men were carrying a man on a stretcher who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him.

¹⁹But when they did not find 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.

²⁰And seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.”

²¹The scribes and the Pharisees began thinking of the implications, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, except God alone?”

²²But Jesus, aware of their thoughts, responded and said to them, “Why are you thinking this way in your hearts?

²³Which is easier, to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?

²⁴But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher, and go home.”

²⁵And immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.

²⁶And they were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God. They were also filled with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today!”

²⁷After that He went out and looked at a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me.”

²⁸And he left everything behind, and got up and began following Him.

²⁹And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.

³⁰The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling to His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?”

³¹And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.

³²I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners.”

³³And 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.”

³⁴And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make theattendants of the groom fast while the groom is with them, can you?

³⁵But the days will come; and when the groom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”

³⁶And He was also telling 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 patch from the new garment will not match the old.

³⁷And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.

³⁸But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

³⁹And no one, after drinking old wine wants new; for he says, ‘The old is fine.’ ”

¹Now it happened that Jesus was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath, and His disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them.

²But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

³And Jesus, answering them, said, “Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him,

⁴how he entered the house of God, and took and ate theconsecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?”

⁵And He was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

⁶On another Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught; and a man was there whose right hand was withered.

⁷Now the scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse Him.

⁸But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up andcome forward!” And he got up and came forward.

⁹And Jesus said to them, “I ask you whether it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to destroy it?”

¹⁰And after looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so; and his hand was restored.

¹¹But they themselves were filled with senseless rage, and began discussing together what they might do to Jesus.

¹²Now it was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer with God.

¹³And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles:

¹⁴Simon, whom He also named Peter, and his brother Andrew; and James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew;

¹⁵and Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot;

¹⁶Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

¹⁷And then Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon,

¹⁸who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled by unclean spirits were being cured.

¹⁹And all the people were trying to touch Him, because power was coming from Him and healing them all.

²⁰And He raised His eyes toward His disciples and began saying, “Blessed areyou who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

²¹Blessed areyou who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed areyou who weep now, for you will laugh.

²²Blessed are you when the people hate you, and when theyexclude you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man.

²³Rejoice on that day and jump for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For their fathers used totreat the prophets the same way.

²⁴But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.

²⁵Woe to you whoare well-fed now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

²⁶Woe to you when all the people speak well of you; for their fathers used totreat the false prophets the same way.

²⁷“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who are abusive to you.

²⁹Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away yourcloak, do not withhold yourtunic from him either.

³⁰Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.

³¹Treat people the same way you want them totreat you.

³²If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

³³And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

³⁴And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount.

³⁵But love your enemies and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people.

³⁶Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

³⁷“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned.

³⁸Give, and it will be given to you. They willpour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

³⁹Now He also spoke a parable to them: “A person who is blind cannot guide another who is blind, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?

⁴⁰Astudent is not above the teacher; but everyone, when he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.

⁴¹Why do you look at thespeck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

⁴²How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out thespeck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out thespeck that is in your brother’s eye.

⁴³For there is no good tree that bears bad fruit, nor,on the other hand, a bad tree that bears good fruit.

⁴⁴For each tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush.

⁴⁵The good person out of the goodtreasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil person out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks fromthat which fills his heart.

⁴⁶“Now why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

⁴⁷Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words andacts on them, I will show you whom he is like:

⁴⁸he is like a man building a house, whodug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when there was a flood, the river burst against that house and yet it could not shake it, because it had been well built.

⁴⁹But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation; and the river burst against it and it immediately collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”

¹When He had completed all His teaching in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum.

²Now a centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die.

³When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to Him, asking Him to come and save the life of his slave.

⁴When they came to Jesus, they strongly urged Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him;

⁵for he loves our nation, and it was he who built us our synagogue.”

⁶Now Jesus started on His way with them; but already, when He was not yet far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to enter under my roof;

⁷for that reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You; but just say the word, and my servant shall be healed.

⁸For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under myself; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

⁹Now when Jesus heard this, He was amazed at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.”

¹⁰And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

¹¹Soon afterward Jesus went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, accompanied by a large crowd.

¹²Now as He approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her.

¹³When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her and said to her, “Do not go on weeping.”

¹⁴And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!”

¹⁵And the dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

¹⁶Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has appeared among us!” and, “God has visited His people!”

¹⁷And this report about Him spread throughout Judea and in all the surrounding region.

¹⁸The disciples of John also reported to him about all these things.

¹⁹And after summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are You the Coming One, or are we to look for another?”

²⁰When the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, to ask, ‘Are You the Coming One, or are we to look for another?’ ”

²¹At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind.

²²And He answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: people who were blind receive sight, people who limped walk, people with leprosy are cleansed and people who were deaf hear, dead people are raised up, and people who are poor have the gospel preached to them.

²³And blessed isanyone who does not take offense at Me.”

²⁴When the messengers of John had left, He began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into thewilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

²⁵But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who are splendidly clothed and live in luxury are found in royal palaces!

²⁶But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet.

²⁷This is the one about whom it is written: ‘BEHOLD, I AM SENDING MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.’

²⁸I say to you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

²⁹When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged God’s justice, having been baptized with the baptism of John.

³⁰But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by John.

³¹“To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like?

³²They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a song of mourning, and you did not weep.’

³³For John the Baptist has come neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’

³⁴The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and aheavy drinker, a friend of tax collectors andsinners!’

³⁵And yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

³⁶Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to eat with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.

³⁷And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume,

³⁸and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, and began kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume.

³⁹Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner!”

⁴⁰And Jesus responded and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.”

⁴¹“A moneylender had two debtors: the one owed five hundreddenarii, and the other, fifty.

⁴²When they were unable to repay, he canceled the debts of both. So which of them will love him more?”

⁴³Simon answered and said, “I assume the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.”

⁴⁴And turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

⁴⁵Yougave Me no kiss; but she has not stopped kissing My feet since the time I came in.

⁴⁶You did notanoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume.

⁴⁷For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but the one who is forgiven little, loves little.”

⁴⁸And He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.”

⁴⁹And then those who were reclining at the table with Him began saying to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?”

⁵⁰And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”