And on one of the days He was teaching, and there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come out of every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord  ¹was with Him to heal.

And behold, some men brought on a bed a  ¹man who was paralyzed, and they sought a way to carry him in and lay him before Him.

And since they could not find by what way they might carry him in because of the crowd, they went up onto the housetop and let him down with the cot through the tiles into the midst, in front of Jesus.

And seeing their faith, He said, Man, your sins are forgiven you.

And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins except God alone?

But Jesus, knowing fully their reasonings, answered and said to them, Why are you reasoning in your hearts?

Which is easier: to say, Your sins are forgiven you, or to say, Rise and walk?

But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on the earth to forgive sins — He said to the one paralyzed, To you I say, Rise and take up your cot and go to your house.

And he rose up at once before them and took up that upon which he was lying and went away to his house, glorifying God.

And astonishment took hold of all, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen extraordinary things today.

And after these things He went out and beheld a  ¹tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, Follow Me.

And leaving all, he rose up and followed Him.

And Levi gave a great reception for Him in his  ¹house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining at table with them.

And the Pharisees and their scribes murmured at His disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?

And Jesus answered and said to them, Those who are healthy have no need of a physician, but those who are ill;

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

And they said to Him, The  ¹disciples of John fast often and make petitions, likewise also those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink.

And Jesus said to them, You cannot make the sons of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you?

But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.

And He also spoke a parable to them: No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise,  ¹he will tear the new garment, and also the patch from the new will not match the old.

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the new wine will burst the wineskins, and it will be poured out and the wineskins will be ruined;

But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

And no one who has drunk the old desires the new, for he says, The old is better.

And Moses spoke in the hearing of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song until they were completed.

Give ear, O heaven, and let me speak;
And let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

Let my teaching drop like the rain;
Let my speech distill like the dew,
Like raindrops upon tender grass,
And like abundant showers upon herbage.

For the name of Jehovah will I declare.
Ascribe greatness to our God!

The Rock — perfect is His work,
For all His ways are justice:
A God of faithfulness and without injustice;
Righteous and upright is He.

Corruptly have they dealt with Him — their blemish is not His  ¹sons —
A twisted and crooked generation are they.

Do you repay Jehovah with this,
Foolish and unwise people?
Is He not your Father who bought you?
Was it not He who made you and established you?

Remember the days of long ago;
Consider the years of generation upon generation;
Ask your father, and he will inform you;
Your elders, and they will tell you.

When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
When He divided the sons of  ¹man,
He set the borders of the peoples
According to the number of Israel's children.

For Jehovah's portion is His people;
Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.

He found him in a land of wilderness,
And in a howling desert waste;
He encircled him, cared for him with all attention;
He guarded him like the pupil of His eye.

As the eagle rouses his nest,
Hovers over his young,
Spreads his wings, takes them,
And bears them up upon his pinions;

So Jehovah alone led him,
And there was no strange god with Him.

He made him ride on the high places of the earth,
And he ate the produce of the field;
And He made him suck honey out of a crag,
And oil out of flint rock:

Curd of cows and milk of sheep,
With fat of lambs,
And rams, the offspring of Bashan, and goats,
With the choicest wheat;
And the blood of the grape you drank as fermenting wine.

But  ¹Jeshurun grew fat and kicked —
You have become fat, you have grown thick, you have gorged yourself —
And forsook God, who made him,
And treated the Rock of his salvation disdainfully.

They made Him jealous with strange gods;
With abominations they provoked Him to anger.

They sacrificed to  ¹demons, to those who were no god,
To gods they did not know,
To new ones who had recently come up,
Before whom your fathers had not shuddered.

You have neglected the Rock who begot you
And have forgotten the God who travailed with you.

And Jehovah saw and held them in contempt,
Because of anger provoked by His sons and daughters.

And He said, I will hide My face from them;
I will see what their latter end will be.
For they are a generation of perversions,
Children in whom is no faithfulness.

They have made Me jealous with a non-God;
They have provoked Me to anger with their  ¹vanities.
Hence I will make them jealous with a non-people;
With a foolish nation I will provoke them to anger.

For a fire is kindled in My anger
And burns unto nethermost  ¹Sheol.
And it devours the earth and its produce
And sets ablaze the foundations of the mountains.

I will heap evils on them;
I will use up My arrows against them.

They shall be sucked up by famine,
And eaten up by fire bolt
And bitter destruction;
And I will send the teeth of beasts against them,
With the venom of those that crawl in the dust.

The sword shall bereave outside,
And inside, terror;
Taking both the young man and the virgin,
The suckling with the gray-haired man.

I would have said, I will scatter them,
I will cause the memory of them to cease from among men;

Except I dreaded the vexation from the enemy;
Lest their adversaries misjudge;
Lest they say, Our hand is exalted,
And it is not Jehovah who has wrought all this.

For they are a nation destitute of counsel,
And there is no understanding in them.

If they had been wise, they would have comprehended this,
They would have perceived their latter end.

How shall one chase a thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Were it not that their Rock sold them,
And Jehovah delivered them up?

For their rock is not like our Rock;
And of this our enemies are judges.

For their vine is from Sodom's vine,
And from Gomorrah's fields;
Their grapes are the grapes of poison;
Clusters of bitterness have they.

Their wine is the venom of serpents
And the cruel poison of cobras.

Is this not laid up in store with Me,
Sealed up in My treasuries?

Vengeance is Mine and so is retribution,
For the time when their foot slips;
Because the day of their calamity has drawn near,
And the things destined to happen to them hasten.

For Jehovah will  ¹execute judgment for His people,
And He will have compassion on His servants,
When He sees that their support is gone,
And that neither fettered nor free remain.

And He will say, Where are their gods,
The rock they sought refuge in,

Who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
And drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise up and help you;
Let  ¹them be a shelter over you.

See now that I, I am He,
And there is no god with Me.
It is I who kill, and I make alive;
I wound, and it is I who heal;
And there is no one who can deliver from My hand.

For I lift up My hand to heaven
And say, As I live forever:

If I sharpen My flashing sword,
And My hand takes hold of judgment,
I will repay My adversaries with vengeance,
And those who hate Me will I recompense.

I will make My arrows drunk with blood,
And My sword will devour flesh —
With the blood of the slain and of the captives,
The flesh of the long-haired  ¹leaders of the enemy.

Shout  ¹joyously, you nations, with His people,
Because He will avenge the blood of His servants,
And He will repay His adversaries with vengeance
And will cover the guilt of His land and of His people.

And Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Hoshea the son of Nun.

And Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel.

And he said to them, Set your heart on all these words which I am testifying to you today. You shall command them to your children that they may be certain to do all the words of this law.

For it is not a matter too vain for you, because it is your life; and by this matter you will extend your days upon the land into which you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.