and there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every village of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was with him to heal them. 005:018 Behold, men brought a paralyzed man on a cot, and they sought to bring him in to lay before Jesus. 005:019 Not finding a way to bring him in because of the multitude, they went up to the housetop, and let him down through the tiles with his cot into the midst before Jesus. 005:020 Seeing their faith, he said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you." 005:021 The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" 005:022 But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, answered them, "Why are you reasoning so in your hearts? 005:023 Which is easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you;' or to say, 'Arise and walk?' 005:024 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" (he said to the paralyzed man), "I tell you, arise, and take up your cot, and go to your house." 005:025 Immediately he rose up before them, and took up that which he was laying on, and departed to his house, glorifying God. 005:026 Amazement took hold on all, and they glorified God. They were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today." 005:027 After these things he went out, and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and said to him, "Follow me!" 005:028 He left everything, and rose up and followed him. 005:029 Levi made a great feast for him in his house. There was a great crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them. 005:030 Their scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?" 005:031 Jesus answered them, "Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. 005:032 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." 005:033 They said to him, "Why do John's disciples often fast and pray, likewise also the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink?" 005:034 He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast, while the bridegroom is with them? 005:035 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast in those days." 005:036 He also told a parable to them. "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old garment, or else he will tear the new, and also the piece from the new will not match the old. 005:037 No one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 005:038 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins,