Matthew 9 KJV
The Calling of Matthew
Matthew Chapter 9: The Calling of Matthew
Jesus' quotation of Hosea 6:6 ('I will have mercy, and not sacrifice') when defending table fellowship with tax collectors reframes prophetic ethics as prioritizing relational restoration over cultic separation, directly challenging Pharisaic boundary maintenance.
1nd he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.
2 And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.
3 And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.
4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?
5 For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?
6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
7 And he arose, and departed to his house.
8 But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.
9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.
10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.
11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
14 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?
15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.
16 No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.
17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.
18 While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.
19 And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.
20 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
21 For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.
22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
23 And when Jesus came into the rulerโs house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise,
24 He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.
25 But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.
26 And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.
27 And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us.
28 And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.
29 Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.
30 And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.
31 But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.
32 As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.
33 And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.
34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.
35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
Words in red are the direct words of Jesus Christ.
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Did You Know?
Jesus' quotation of Hosea 6:6 ('I will have mercy, and not sacrifice') when defending table fellowship with tax collectors reframes prophetic ethics as prioritizing relational restoration over cultic separation, directly challenging Pharisaic boundary maintenance.
The intercalated stories of the hemorrhaging woman and Jairus's daughter deliberately juxtapose two forms of ritual impurity (chronic bleeding and corpse contact) to show faith as the agent that overrides Levitical contagion rather than transmitting it to Jesus.
Matthew's account alone places the healing of the paralytic immediately before the call of the tax collector, creating a deliberate literary arc from forgiveness of sins declared in private to its public embodiment in welcoming societal 'sinners.'
The wineskin metaphor draws on the specific mechanics of ancient fermentation, where fresh grape juice produced carbon dioxide that would rupture inflexible old goatskins, serving as a concrete image for the structural incompatibility between Jesus' kingdom practices and existing covenantal forms.
The chapter's closing harvest imagery (echoing Numbers 27:17) casts the crowds as leaderless sheep in a post-exilic shepherding motif, positioning Jesus' subsequent commissioning of the Twelve as the inauguration of a renewed Mosaic leadership structure.
Commentary & Study Notes Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871) ยท Public Domain This incident appears to follow next in order of time to the cure of the leper (Mt 8:1-4). For the exposition, see on Mr 2:1-12.
Classic verse-by-verse commentary on Matthew 9 from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871). Covers: Healing of a paralytic. ( = mr 2:1-12; Lu 5:17-26); Matthew's call and feast. ( = mr 2:14-17; Lu 5:27-32); Discourse on fasting; The woman with the issue of blood healed.--the daughter of jairus raised to life. ( = lu 8:40-56; Mr 5:21-43).
- 9
- And as Jesus passed forth from thence โ that is, from the scene of the paralytic's cure in Capernaum, towards the shore of the Sea of Galilee, on which that town lay. Mark, as usual, pictures the scene more in detail, thus (Mr 2:13): "And He went forth again by the seaside; and all the multitude resorted unto Him, and He taught them" โ or, "kept teaching them." "And as He passed by" he saw a man, named Matthew โ the writer of this precious Gospel, who here, with singular modesty and brevity, relates the story of his own calling. In Mark and Luke he is called Levi, which seems to have been his family name. In their lists of the twelve apostles, however, Mark and Luke give him the name of Matthew, which seems to have been the name by which he was known as a disciple. While he himself sinks his family name, he is careful not to sink his occupation, the obnoxious associations with which he would place over against the grace that called him from it, and made him an apostle. (See on Mt 10:3). Mark alone tells us (Mr 2:14) that he was "the son of Alphรฆus" โ the same, probably, with the father of James the Less. From this and other considerations it is pretty certain that he must at least have heard of our Lord before this meeting. Unnecessary doubts, even from an early period, have been raised about the identity of Levi and Matthew. No capable jury, with the evidence before them which we have in the Gospels, would hesitate in giving a unanimous verdict of identity. sitting at the receipt of custom โ as a publican, which Luke (Lu 5:27) calls him. It means the place of receipt, the toll house or booth in which the collector sat. Being in this case by the seaside, it might be the ferry tax for the transit of persons and goods across the lake, which he collected. (See on Mt 5:46). and he saith unto him, Follow me โ Witching words these, from the lips of Him who never employed them without giving them resistless efficacy in the hearts of those they were spoken to. And he โ "left all" (Lu 5:28), "arose and followed him." The Feast (Mt 9:10-13).
- 10
- And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house โ The modesty of our Evangelist signally appears here. Luke says (Lu 5:29) that "Levi made Him a great feast," or "reception," while Matthew merely says, "He sat at meat"; and Mark and Luke say that it was in Levi's "own house," while Matthew merely says, "He sat at meat in the house." Whether this feast was made now, or not till afterwards, is a point of some importance in the order of events, and not agreed among harmonists. The probability is that it did not take place till a considerable time afterwards. For Matthew, who ought surely to know what took place while his Lord was speaking at his own table, tells us that the visit of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, occurred at that moment (Mt 9:18). But we know from Mark and Luke that this visit of Jairus did not take place till after our Lord's return, at a later period from the country of the Gadarenes. (See Mr 5:21, &c., and Lu 8:40, &c.). We conclude, therefore, that the feast was not made in the novelty of his discipleship, but after Matthew had had time to be somewhat established in the faith; when returning to Capernaum, his compassion for old friends, of his own calling and character, led him to gather them together that they might have an opportunity of hearing the gracious words which proceeded out of His Master's mouth, if haply they might experience a like change. behold, many publicans and sinners โ Luke says, "a great company" (Lu 5:29) came and sat down with him and his disciples โ In all such cases the word rendered "sat" is "reclined," in allusion to the ancient mode of lying on couches at meals.
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