Luke 5:4-27

⁴When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

⁵And in answer Simon said to Him, “Master, we have worked hard the whole night and caught nothing, but based on your word I will let down the net.”

⁶When they had done this, they caught such a large number of fish that their net began to tear.

⁷So they signaled to their partners who were in the other boat to come help them; they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

⁸Upon experiencing this Simon Peter fell at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”

⁹Because astonishment gripped him and all who were with him at the haul of fish which they had caught;

¹⁰yes, this included James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don't be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”

¹¹Pulling the boats up on the shore, they left it all and followed Him.

¹²Now it happened, while He was in one of the towns—a man full of leprosy! Upon seeing Jesus he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can cleanse me!”

¹³So He extended His hand and touched him, saying, “I want to; be cleansed!” Immediately the leprosy left him.

¹⁴Then He ordered him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing just as Moses prescribed, as a testimony to them.”

¹⁵However the news about Him spread all the more, and large crowds kept gathering to hear and to be healed by Him of their sicknesses.

¹⁶So He Himself would withdraw into deserted places and pray.

¹⁷Now it happened on a certain day that He was teaching, and there were Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee, and from Judea and Jerusalem, sitting there—and the power of the Lord was there to heal them.

¹⁸And then, some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a cot, and tried to take him in and place him before Him.

¹⁹When they could not find how to do it, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him with the cot through the tiling into the center, in front of Jesus.

²⁰Seeing their faith He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you!”

²¹So the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying: “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

²²But Jesus perceived their reasonings and reacted by saying to them: “Why are you reasoning in your hearts?

²³Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you’, or to say, ‘Get up and walk!’?

²⁴But that you may know that the Son of the Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralyzed man: “I say to you, get up! Take your cot and go to your house.”

²⁵Immediately he stood up in front of them, took up what he had been lying on, and set out to his own house glorifying God.

²⁶Amazement gripped them all and they kept glorifying God; they were also filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”

²⁷After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office; and He said to him, “Follow me!”