Matthew 9

1And he got into the boat, crossed over, and came to his own city.

2And behold, they brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, "Take heart, child; your sins are forgiven."

3And behold, certain scribes said among themselves, "This one blasphemes."

4And Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, "Why are you thinking evil things in your hearts?"

5For which is easier, to say, "Your sins are forgiven," or to say, "Stand up and walk"?

6But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your bed, and go to your house.”

7And he got up and went to his house.

8But when the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe and glorified God, who had given such authority to people.

9As Jesus passed by from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. He said to him, "Follow me." And he arose and followed him.

10And as he reclined in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and reclined with Jesus and his disciples.

11And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

12But when he heard, he said, "The healthy have no need of a physician, but the sick."

13But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice, for I came not to call the righteous but sinners.

14Then John's disciples came to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?"

15And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests mourn while the bridegroom is with them? But days will come when the bridegroom is taken from them, and then they will fast."

16No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for its filling tears away from the garment, and a worse tear develops.

17Neither do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins burst, the wine pours out, and the wineskins perish. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.

18While he was speaking these things to them, suddenly one ruler came, worshiped him, and said, "My daughter has just died, but come, put your hand on her, and she will live."

19And Jesus rose and followed him, and his disciples.

20And behold, a woman who had been hemorrhaging for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment.

21For she was saying to herself, "If only I touch his garment, I will be healed."

22But Jesus turned, saw her, and said, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has saved you." And the woman was healed from that hour.

23And when Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the pipers and the crowd in an uproar,

24He said, "Go away, for the girl has not died but is sleeping." And they laughed at him.

25But when the crowd was driven out, he entered, grasped her hand, and the girl arose.

26And this report went out into all that land.

27And as Jesus passed by from there, two blind men followed him, crying out and saying, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"

28When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I can do this?" They said to him, "Yes, Lord."

29Then he touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be done for you."

30And their eyes were opened, and Jesus sternly warned them, saying, "See that no one knows."

31But they went out and spread his renown throughout all that land.

32As they were going out, look, they brought to him a mute demon-possessed man.

33And when the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke, and the crowds marveled, saying, "Never has anything like this been seen in Israel."

34But the Pharisees said, "By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons."

35And Jesus went around all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.

36When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them because they were distressed and scattered like sheep without a shepherd.

37Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few."

38Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest that he send out workers into his harvest.