New American Standard Bible | ►► |
The First Disciples
1Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret;2and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.3And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a littledistance from the land. And He sat down andcontinued teaching the crowds from the boat.4Now when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”5Simon responded and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but[a]I will do as You sayand let down the nets.”6And when they had done this, they caught a great quantity of fish, and their netsbegan to tear;7so 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.8But when Simon Peter sawthis, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”9For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken;10and likewise alsowere[b]James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear; from now on you will be catching people.”11When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.A Man with Leprosy Healed
12While He was in one of the cities, behold,there was a man[c]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.”13And He reached out with His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him.14And He ordered him to tell no one,saying, “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”15But the news about Him was spreadingeven farther, and large crowds were gathering to hearHim and to be healed of their sicknesses.16ButJesus Himself wouldoften slip away[d]to the[e]wilderness and pray.A Man Lowered Through a Roof
17[f]One day He was teaching, and there weresome Pharisees and teachers of the Law sittingthere who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, andfrom Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord waspresent for Him to perform healing.18Andsome menwere 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.19But when they did not find anyway to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle