10But Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid! Up until now you(sg) have been gathering fish MET, but from now on you will gather people to become my disciples.”
11So after they brought the boats to the shore, they left their business HYP in the hands of others and went with Jesus.
12While Jesus was in one of the cities there in the district of Galilee, there was a man there who was very severely affected by leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he prostrated himself before him and, wanting Jesus to heal him, pleaded with him, “Lord/Sir, please heal me, because you are able to heal me if you are willing to!”
13Then Jesus, disregarding the religious law that forbade people to come close to lepers, reached out his hand and touched the man. He said, “I am willing to heal you; and I heal you now!” Immediately the man was healed. He was no longer a leper PRS!
14Then Jesus told him, “Make sure that you do not report your healing immediately. First, go to a priest in Jerusalem and show yourself to him so that he can examine you and verify that you no longer have leprosy. After the priest tells the local people, they will know that you have been healed, and you will be able to associate with them again. Also take to the priest the offering that Moses commanded that people who have been healed from leprosy should offer.”
15But many people heard the man's report of what Jesus had done. The result was that large crowds came to Jesus to hear his message and to be healed of their sicknesses {so that he would heal their sicknesses}.
16But he often would go away from them to the desolate area and pray.
17One day when Jesus was teaching, some men from the Pharisee sect were sitting there. Some of them were men who taught the Jewish laws. They had come from many HYP villages in Galilee district and also from Jerusalem and from other villages in Judea district. At that time while God was giving Jesus power to heal people,
18several men brought on a sleeping pad a man who was paralyzed. They wanted to bring him into the house and lay him in front of Jesus.
19But there was no way to do that because of the large crowd of people, so they went up the steps onto the roof. They tied ropes onto the sleeping pad and, after removing some of the tiles on the roof, they lowered the man on the sleeping pad. They lowered him through the opening into the midst of the crowd in front of Jesus.
20When Jesus perceived that they believed that he could heal the man, he said to him, “My friend, I forgive your sins!”
21The men who taught the Jewish laws and the rest of the Pharisees began to think within themselves, “Who does this man think he is, saying that? He is insulting God! ◄Nobody can forgive sins!/What person can forgive sins?► RHQ Only God can do that!”
22Jesus perceived what they were thinking. So he said to them, “◄You should not think that way about what I said!/Why do you question within yourselves about what I said?► RHQ Consider this:
23It would not be risky for someone to say to this man, ‘ I forgive your sins,’ because no one could see whether or not his sins were really forgiven. But no one RHQ, without having the power to heal, would say to him, ‘Get up and walk!’ because people could easily see whether he was healed or not.
24But as a result of my healing this man you (pl) will know that God has authorized me, the one who came from heaven, to forgive the sins of people while I am on the earth, as well as to heal people.” Then he said to the man who was paralyzed, “To you I say, ‘Get up, pick up your sleeping pad, and go home!’ ”
25Immediately the man was healed . He stood up in front of them. He picked up the sleeping pad on which he had been lying, and went home, praising God.
26All the people there were amazed! They praised God and were completely awestruck. They kept saying, “We (inc) have seen wonderful things today!”
27Then Jesus left the town and saw a man who collected taxes for the Roman government. His name was Levi. He was sitting in the booth where he collected the taxes. Jesus said to him, “Come with me and become my disciple!”
28So Levi left his work HYP and went with Jesus.
Luke 5
Luke 5:10-28