The Healing of a Paralytic. 1^* When Jesus returned to Capernaum^a after some days, it became known that he was at home.^* 2Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door, and he preached the word to them. 3They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him. After they had broken through, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying. 5^* When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” 6^* Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves, 7“Why does this man speak that way?^* He is blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?”^b 8Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? 9Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’? 10^* But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth”— 11he said to the paralytic, “I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.” 12He rose, picked up his mat at once, and went away in the sight of everyone. They were all astounded and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”

10Do not abandon old friends;

new ones cannot equal them.

A new friend is like new wine—

when it has aged, you drink it with pleasure.

11Do not envy the wicked

for you do not know when their day will come.

12Do not delight in the pleasures of the ungodly;

remember, they will not die unpunished.

13Keep away from those who have power to kill,

and you will not be filled with the dread of death.

But if you come near them, do not offend them,

lest they take away your life.

Know that you are stepping among snares

and walking over a net.

14As best you can, answer your neighbor,

and associate with the wise.

15With the learned exchange ideas;

and let all your conversation be about the law of the Most High.

16Take the righteous for your table companions;

and let your glory be in the fear of God.

17Work by skilled hands will earn praise;

but the people’s leader is proved wise by his words.

18Loud mouths are feared in their city,

and whoever is reckless in speech is hated.

19Yes, people of Zion, dwelling in Jerusalem,

you shall no longer weep;

He will be most gracious to you when you cry out;

as soon as he hears he will answer you.^q

20The Lord will give you bread in adversity

and water in affliction.

No longer will your Teacher^* hide himself,

but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher,^r

21And your ears shall hear a word behind you:

“This is the way; walk in it,”

when you would turn to the right or the left.

22You shall defile your silver-plated idols

and your gold-covered images;

You shall throw them away like filthy rags,

you shall say, “Get out!”^s

23He will give rain for the seed

you sow in the ground,

And the bread that the soil produces

will be rich and abundant.

On that day your cattle will graze

in broad meadows;^t

24The oxen and the donkeys that till the ground

will eat silage tossed to them

with shovel and pitchfork.

25Upon every high mountain and lofty hill

there will be streams of running water.

On the day of the great slaughter,

when the towers fall,

26The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun,

and the light of the sun will be seven times greater,

like the light of seven days,

On the day the LORD binds up the wounds of his people

and heals the bruises left by his blows.^u

15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Of course not!ⁿ 16Do you not know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves,^o you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?^p 17But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted.^* 18Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness. 19I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your nature. For just as you presented the parts of your bodies as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness for lawlessness, so now present them as slaves to righteousness for sanctification. 20^q For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness.^* 21But what profit did you get then from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.^r 22But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification,^* and its end is eternal life.^s 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.^t