Mark 2:17

Hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill. I did not come to call the religious, but the outcast.”

Open English Bible (US)

In The King James Version

When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

In Context

16When the teachers of the Law belonging to the party of the Pharisees saw that he was eating in the company of such people, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with the tax collectors and outcasts?”

18Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and people came and asked Jesus, “Why is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, while yours do not?”

Read all of Mark 2

Cross References

Matthew 18:10Beware of despising one of these little ones, for in heaven, I tell you, their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

Luke 15:7So, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one outcast who repents, than over ninety-nine religious people, who have no need to repent.

Luke 15:29‘No,’ he said to his father, ‘look at all the years I have been serving you, without ever once disobeying you, and yet you have never given me even a young goat, so that I might have a party with my friends.

Luke 19:10The Son of Man has come to search for those who are lost and to save them.”

John 9:40Hearing this, some of the Pharisees who were with him said, “Then are we blind too?”

Matthew Henry on Mark 2:14-18

Christ among Publicans and Sinners. 13 And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. 14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphæus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. 15 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. 16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw… Read the whole commentary →

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