Matthew 9
9
1And going on board the ship, he passed over and came to his own city. 2And behold, they brought to him a paralytic, laid upon a bed; and Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, Be of good courage, child; thy sins are forgiven. 3And behold, certain of the scribes said to themselves, This man blasphemes. 4And Jesus, seeing their thoughts, said, Why do ye think evil things in your hearts? 5For which is easier: to say, Thy sins are forgiven; or to say, Rise up and walk? 6But that ye may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins, (then he says to the paralytic,) Rise up, take up thy bed and go to thy house. 7And he rose up and went to his house. 8But the crowds seeing it, were in fear, and glorified God who gave such power to men.
9And Jesus, passing on thence, saw a man sitting at the tax-office, called Matthew, and says to him, Follow me. And he rose up and followed him. 10And it came to pass, as he lay at table in the house, that behold, many tax-gatherers and sinners came and lay at table with Jesus and his disciples. 11And the Pharisees seeing it, said to his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax-gatherers and sinners? 12But Jesus hearing it, said, They that are strong have not need of a physician, but those that are ill. 13But go and learn what that is — I will have mercy and not sacrifice; for I have not come to call righteous men but sinners.
14Then come to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees often fast, but thy disciples fast not? 15And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn so long as the bridegroom is with them? But days will come when the bridegroom will have been taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16But no one puts a patch of new cloth on an old garment, for its filling up takes from the garment and a worse rent takes place. 17Nor do men put new wine into old skins, otherwise the skins burst and the wine is poured out, and the skins will be destroyed; but they put new wine into new skins, and both are preserved together.
18As he spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler coming in did homage to him, saying, My daughter has by this died; but come and lay thy hand upon her and she shall live. 19And Jesus rose up and followed him, and so did his disciples. 20And behold, a woman, who had had a bloody flux for twelve years, came behind and touched the hem of his garment; 21for she said within herself, If I should only touch his garment I shall be healed. 22But Jesus turning and seeing her, said, Be of good courage, daughter; thy faith has healed thee. And the woman was healed from that hour. 23And when Jesus was come to the house of the ruler, and saw the flute-players and the crowd making a tumult, 24he said, Withdraw, for the damsel is not dead, but sleeps. And they derided him. 25But when the crowd had been put out, he went in and took her hand; and the damsel rose up. 26And the fame of it went out into all that land.
27And as Jesus passed on thence, two blind men followed him, crying and saying, Have mercy on us, Son of David. 28And when he was come to the house, the blind men came to him. And Jesus says to them, Do ye believe that I am able to do this? They say to him, Yea, Lord. 29Then he touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it unto you. 30And their eyes were opened; and Jesus charged them sharply, saying, See, let no man know it. 31But they, when they were gone out, spread his name abroad in all that land. 32But as these were going out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed by a demon. 33And the demon having been cast out, the dumb spake. And the crowds were astonished, saying, It has never been seen thus in Israel. 34But the Pharisees said, He casts out the demons through the prince of the demons.
35And Jesus went round all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every bodily weakness. 36But when he saw the crowds he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed, and cast away as sheep not having a shepherd. 37Then saith he to his disciples, The harvest is great and the workmen are few; 38supplicate therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth workmen unto his harvest.
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Matthew 9: DARBY
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Matthew 9
9
Who Needs a Doctor?
1-3Back in the boat, Jesus and the disciples recrossed the sea to Jesus’ hometown. They were hardly out of the boat when some men carried a paraplegic on a stretcher and set him down in front of them. Jesus, impressed by their bold belief, said to the paraplegic, “Cheer up, son. I forgive your sins.” Some religion scholars whispered, “Why, that’s blasphemy!”
4-8Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said, “Why this gossipy whispering? Which do you think is simpler: to say, ‘I forgive your sins,’ or, ‘Get up and walk’? Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both. . . .” At this he turned to the paraplegic and said, “Get up. Take your bed and go home.” And the man did it. The crowd was awestruck, amazed and pleased that God had authorized Jesus to work among them this way.
9Passing along, Jesus saw a man at his work collecting taxes. His name was Matthew. Jesus said, “Come along with me.” Matthew stood up and followed him.
10-11Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew’s house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus’ followers. “What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and misfits?”
12-13Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.”
Kingdom Come
14A little later John’s followers approached, asking, “Why is it that we and the Pharisees rigorously discipline body and spirit by fasting, but your followers don’t?”
15Jesus told them, “When you’re celebrating a wedding, you don’t skimp on the cake and wine. You feast. Later you may need to exercise moderation, but not now. No one throws cold water on a friendly bonfire. This is Kingdom Come!”
16-17He went on, “No one cuts up a fine silk scarf to patch old work clothes; you want fabrics that match. And you don’t put your wine in cracked bottles.”
Just a Touch
18-19As he finished saying this, a local official appeared, bowed politely, and said, “My daughter has just now died. If you come and touch her, she will live.” Jesus got up and went with him, his disciples following along.
20-22Just then a woman who had hemorrhaged for twelve years slipped in from behind and lightly touched his robe. She was thinking to herself, “If I can just put a finger on his robe, I’ll get well.” Jesus turned—caught her at it. Then he reassured her: “Courage, daughter. You took a risk of faith, and now you’re well.” The woman was well from then on.
23-26By now they had arrived at the house of the town official, and pushed their way through the gossips looking for a story and the neighbors bringing in casseroles. Jesus was abrupt: “Clear out! This girl isn’t dead. She’s sleeping.” They told him he didn’t know what he was talking about. But when Jesus had gotten rid of the crowd, he went in, took the girl’s hand, and pulled her to her feet—alive. The news was soon out, and traveled throughout the region.
Become What You Believe
27-28As Jesus left the house, he was followed by two blind men crying out, “Mercy, Son of David! Mercy on us!” When Jesus got home, the blind men went in with him. Jesus said to them, “Do you really believe I can do this?” They said, “Why, yes, Master!”
29-31He touched their eyes and said, “Become what you believe.” It happened. They saw. Then Jesus became very stern. “Don’t let a soul know how this happened.” But they were hardly out the door before they started blabbing it to everyone they met.
32-33Right after that, as the blind men were leaving, a man who had been struck speechless by an evil spirit was brought to Jesus. As soon as Jesus threw the evil tormenting spirit out, the man talked away just as if he’d been talking all his life. The people were up on their feet applauding: “There’s never been anything like this in Israel!”
34The Pharisees were left sputtering, “Smoke and mirrors. It’s nothing but smoke and mirrors. He’s probably made a pact with the Devil.”
35-38Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. “What a huge harvest!” he said to his disciples. “How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!”
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.