Study Desk

^(C1)Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by ^(C2)the lake of Gennesaret;

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

And ^(C1)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.

Now when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and ^(C1)let down your nets for a catch."

Simon responded and said, "^(C1)Master, ^(C2)we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but ^(F1)I will do as You say and let down the nets."

And when they had done this, ^(C1)they caught a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to tear;

so 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.

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

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

and likewise also were ^(F1)James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "^(C1)Do not fear; from now on you will be ^(C2)catching people."

When they had brought their boats to land, ^(C1)they left everything and followed Him.

^(C1)While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man ^(F1)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."

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

And He ordered him to tell no one, saying, "But go and ^(C1)show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

But ^(C1)the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

But Jesus Himself would often slip away ^(F1)to the ^(F2)wilderness and ^(C1)pray.

^(F1)One day He was teaching, and ^(C1)there were some Pharisees and ^(C2)teachers of the Law sitting there who had ^(C3)come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem; and ^(C4)the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.

^(C1)And 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.

But when they did not find any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on ^(C1)the roof and let him down ^(C2)through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.

And seeing their faith, He said, "^(F1)Friend, ^(C1)your sins are forgiven you."

The scribes and the Pharisees ^(C1)began thinking of the implications, saying, "^(C2)Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? ^(C3)Who can forgive sins, except God alone?"

But Jesus, ^(F1)aware of their thoughts, responded and said to them, "Why are you thinking this way in your hearts?

"Which is easier, to say: 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?

"But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins," He said to the ^(C1)man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher, and go home."

And immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home ^(C1)glorifying God.

And ^(F1)they were all struck with astonishment and began ^(C1)glorifying God. They were also filled ^(C2)with fear, saying, "We have seen remarkable things today!"

^(C1)After that He went out and looked at a tax collector named ^(F1)(C2)Levi sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, "Follow Me."

And he ^(C1)left everything behind, and got up and began following Him.

And ^(C1)Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a large crowd of ^(C2)tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.

^(C1)The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling to His disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and ^(F1)sinners?"

And Jesus answered and said to them, "^(C1)It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.

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

And they said to Him, "^(C1)The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do ^(F1)the same, but Yours eat and drink."

And Jesus said to them, "You cannot make the ^(F1)attendants of the groom fast while the groom is with them, can you?

"^(C1)But the days will come; and when the groom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days."

And 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.

"And 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.

"But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

"And no one, after drinking old wine wants new; for he says, 'The old is fine.'"

^(C1)Now it happened that ^(F1)Jesus was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath, and His disciples ^(C2)were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them.

But some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what ^(C1)is not lawful on the Sabbath?"

And Jesus, answering them, said, "Have you not even read ^(C1)what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him,

how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the ^(F1)consecrated bread, which ^(C1)is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?"

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

^(C1)On another Sabbath He entered ^(C2)the synagogue and taught; and a man was there ^(F1)whose right hand was withered.

Now the scribes and the Pharisees ^(C1)were watching Him ^(F1)closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse Him.

But He ^(C1)knew ^(F1)what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and ^(F2)come forward!" And he got up and ^(F3)came forward.

And 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?"

And after ^(C1)looking around at them all, He said to him, "Stretch out your hand!" And he did so; and his hand was restored.

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

Now it was ^(F1)at this time that He went off to ^(C1)the mountain to ^(C2)pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer with God.

And when day came, ^(C1)He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as ^(C2)apostles:

Simon, whom He also named Peter, and his brother Andrew; and ^(F1)James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew;

and ^(C1)Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot;

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

And then Jesus ^(C1)came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was ^(C2)a large crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the coastal region of ^(C3)Tyre and Sidon,

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

And all the ^(F1)people were trying to ^(C1)touch Him, because ^(C2)power was coming from Him and healing them all.

And He raised His eyes toward His disciples and began saying, "^(C1)Blessed are ^(F1)you who are poor, for ^(C2)yours is the kingdom of God.

"Blessed are ^(F1)you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are ^(F1)you who weep now, for you will laugh.

"^(C1)Blessed are you when the people hate you, and when they ^(F1)(C2)exclude you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man.

"Rejoice on that day and jump for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For their fathers used to ^(F1)treat the prophets ^(C2)the same way.

"But woe to ^(C1)you who are rich, for ^(C2)you are receiving your comfort in full.

"Woe to you who ^(F1)are well-fed now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

"Woe to you when all the people speak well of you; for their fathers used to ^(F1)treat the ^(C1)false prophets the same way.

"But I say to you who hear, ^(C1)love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

bless those who curse you, ^(C1)pray for those who are abusive to you.

"^(C1)Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your ^(F1)cloak, do not withhold your ^(F2)tunic from him either.

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

"^(F1)(C1)Treat people the same way you want them to ^(F2)treat you.

"^(C1)If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

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

"^(C1)And 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.

"But ^(C1)love your enemies and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be ^(C2)sons of ^(C3)the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people.

"^(F1)Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

"^(C1)Do not ^(F1)judge, and you will not be judged; and do not ^(F2)condemn, and you will not be condemned; ^(F3)(C2)pardon, and you will be pardoned.

"Give, and it will be given to you. They will ^(F1)pour ^(C1)into your lap a ^(C2)good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."

Now He also spoke a parable to them: "^(C1)A person who is blind cannot guide another who is blind, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?

"^(C1)A ^(F1)student is not above the teacher; but everyone, when he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.

"Why do you look at the ^(F1)speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

"How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the ^(F1)speck 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 the ^(F1)speck that is in your brother's eye.

"^(C1)For there is no good tree that bears bad fruit, nor, ^(F1)on the other hand, a bad tree that bears good fruit.

"^(C1)For 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.

"^(C1)The good person out of the good ^(F1)treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil person out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; ^(C2)for his mouth speaks from ^(F2)that which fills his heart.

"Now ^(C1)why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?

"^(C1)Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and ^(F1)acts on them, I will show you whom he is like:

he is like a man building a house, who ^(F1)dug 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.

"But 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."