Luke 5

The Call of the Disciples

¹ Now it came to pass as the crowd was pressing upon him and hearing the word of God, that he was standing by the lake Genesaret, ² and he saw two boats standing beside the lake. And the fishermen having gotten out from them were cleaning their nets. ³ But having gotten into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked¹ him to put out a little from the land. And having sat he was teaching the crowds from the boat. ⁴ Now when he finished speaking, he said to Simon: Put out to the depths, and let down your nets for [a] catch. ⁵ And Peter answering said: Master², having worked hard the whole night, we took nothing, but upon your word I will let down the nets. ⁶ And having done this he enclosed [a] great fullness of fish, and their nets were tearing³. ⁷ And they signaled to [their] companions in the other boat that having come they help. And they came, and filled both boats so as to be sinking them. ⁸ But Simon Peter having seen this, he fell before Jesus on his knees saying: Depart from me, for I am [a] sinful man, Lord. ⁹ For astonishment seized him and all those with him upon the catch of fish that they had taken. ¹⁰ Likewise also James and John sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Be not fearing, from now on you will be capturing⁴ men. ¹¹ And having brought the boats to the land, having left all, they followed him.

Healing a Leper

¹² And it came to pass while he was in one of the cities [that] behold [there was a] man full of leprosy. But seeing Jesus, having fallen on [his] face he begged him saying: Lord, if you wish, you are able to cleanse [me]. ¹³ And having stretched out his hand he grasped⁵ him saying: I wish [it], be cleansed. And immediately the leprosy left him. ¹⁴ And he ordered him to speak to no one, but: Having departed, show yourself to the priest, and offer concerning your cleansing just as Moses prescribed, for [a] witness to them. ¹⁵ But instead the word traveled concerning him, and great crowds came together to be hearing and to be healed from all their sickliness. ¹⁶ But he was retreating to the wildernesses and praying.

Healing and Forgiving a Paralytic

¹⁷ And it came to pass in one of [those] days he also was teaching, and there were seated Pharisees and law-teachers who were come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem. And power of the Lord was to him to be healing. ¹⁸ And behold men having brought upon [a] stretcher⁶ [a] man who was paralytic, and they were seeking to bring him in and place him before him. ¹⁹ And not having found by what way they may bring him in through⁷ the crowd, having gone up upon the roof⁸ they let him down with the stretcher⁶ through the roof-tiles⁹ into the midst before Jesus. ²⁰ And having seen their belief he said: Friend¹⁰, your sins have been forgiven you. ²¹ And the scribes and the Pharisees began to be reasoning saying: Who is this who speaks [God]-slander? Who is able to forgive sins except God only? ²² But Jesus having known their reasonings, answering he said to them: Why do you reason in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say: Your sins have been forgiven you, or to say: Be rising and be walking? ²⁴ But in order that you may know that the son of man has authority upon earth to forgive sins—he said to the paralytic: I say to you: Be rising and having taken your stretcher⁶ be going to your house. ²⁵ And immediately having stood up before them, having taken [that] upon which he laid, he departed to his house glorifying God. ²⁶ And astonishment seized all, and they were glorifying God, and were filled with fear saying that: We have seen wonderful¹¹ [things] today.

The Call of Levi; Eating with Sinners

²⁷ And after these [things] he went out, and saw [a] tax collector, Levi by name, sitting in the tax booth¹², and he said to him: Be following me. ²⁸ And having left all, having stood up, he was following him.

²⁹ And Levi gave [a] great banquet in his house, and there was [a] great crowd of tax gatherers and others who were reclining¹³ with them. ³⁰ And the Pharisees and their scribes¹⁴ were murmuring to his disciples saying: Why do you eat and drink with tax gatherers and sinners? ³¹ And answering Jesus said to them: The healthy have no need of [the] physician, but those having [it] badly¹⁵. ³² I am not sent to call [the] just, but sinners to repentance.

The Superiority of the New

³³ But they said to him: The disciples of John fast often and do prayers, likewise also [the disciples] of the Pharisees, but with you they eat and drink. ³⁴ But Jesus said to them: Are the sons of the bridegroom able, when the groom is with them, to do fasting?^{16 35} But the days will come, and when the bridegroom departs from them, then will they fast in those days.

³⁶ But he was also saying to them [a] parable that: No one having torn [a] patch from [a] new garment places [it] on [an] old garment, but if so he will both tear the new, and the old will not agree with the [patch] from the new. ³⁷ And no one places new wine into old skins, but if so the new wine will tear the skins, and it will spill out and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸ But one must put new wine into new skins. ³⁹ And no one drinking old wine wishes new, for he says: The old is good enough.

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¹EROTAO (ερωταω) "Ask", but more polite, not demanding/begging as is AITEO. Both AITEO and EROTAO occur in John.16:26.

²EPISTATA (epsilonπστατα), a term of respect for a person of high status. In the N.T. it only occurs in Luke.

³or `bursting'

⁴ZOGREO (ζωγρεω) `to capture alive', vs. LAMBANO `to catch, to take' in vs. 5

⁵Touching him would have left Jesus ceremonially unclean. Lev.14:46

⁶or `bed'

⁷or `because of'

⁸A house in 1st century Palestine would have a flat roof, with stairs or a ladder going up. Often this access was on the outside.

⁹KERAMOS (κεραμoς ) means `clay' when referring to pottery. But 1st century Palestine homes would not have had tile roofs-their structures wouldn't have supported them, nor a second story. The author is likely is using a term familiar to his readers.

¹⁰lit. `Man', except that in 1st century Jewish culture this would have been a friendly and respectful form of address. See Danker (2000) s.v. ανθρπoς 8: "in address, varying from a familiar tone to one that is more formal ... indicating a close relationship between the speaker and the one addressed".

¹¹PARADOXA (παραδoξα) also means "unexpected"

¹²Something like a `tax toll booth': it was on the edge of town, collecting goods and produce as tax from sellers entering the town. "In the ancient world taxes were primarily of two types: (1) a head tax on each individual (which was relatively small) and (2) revenue or tribute paid for goods and produce brought into an area for sale. The latter was essentially a kind of `sales tax,' but paid by the seller who obviously increased the prices of goods accordingly. ( Swanson (1997)57.183) Tax-collectors were regarded as `collaborators with the Romans' and were thus hated.

¹³This refers to the Jewish practice of eating a meal in a semi-reclining position.

¹⁴Experts in the Law

¹⁵`Having it badly': an idiom for `being sick'

¹⁶Grammar indicates "no" answer expected or expresses uncertainty