22 “These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly kat the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And lhe wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. 23 And mas soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders. 24 And you said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and ngreatness, and owe have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man pstill live. 25 Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. qIf we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die. 26 pFor who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived? 27 Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say, and rspeak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’
28 “And the Lord heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. sThey are right in all that they have spoken. 29 tOh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, uthat it might go well with them and with their descendants1 forever! 30 Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.” 31 But you, stand here by me, and vI will tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and the rules that you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’ 32 You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. wYou shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 33 xYou shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and ythat it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.
The Greatest Commandment
1 “Now this is zthe commandment—the statutes and the rules2—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that ayou may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and bthat your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, cas the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
4 “Hear, O Israel: dThe Lord our God, the Lord is one.3 5 You eshall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And fthese words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 gYou shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 hYou shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 iYou shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
1 And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to vhis own city. 2 wAnd behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus xsaw their faith, he said to the paralytic, y“Take heart, my son; zyour sins are forgiven.” 3 And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, a“This man is blaspheming.” 4 But Jesus, bknowing1 their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 7 And he rose and went home. 8 When the crowds saw it, cthey were afraid, and cthey glorified God, who had dgiven such authority to men.
Jesus Calls Matthew
9 eAs Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called fMatthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
10 And as Jesus2 reclined at table in the house, behold, many gtax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, h“Why does your teacher eat with gtax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn iwhat this means: j‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For kI came not to call the righteous, lbut sinners.”
A Question About Fasting
14 Then mthe disciples of John came to him, saying, n“Why do we and othe Pharisees fast,3 but your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, p“Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? qThe days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and rthen they will fast. 16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old swineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”
