14. Then the followers of John came to Jesus and said, “We and the Pharisees fast often, but your followers don’t ever fast. Why?”
15. Jesus answered, “At a wedding the friends of the bridegroom are not sad while he is with them. They cannot fast then. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them. Then they will fast.
16. “When someone sews a patch over a hole in an old coat, they never use a piece of cloth that has not already been shrunk. If they do, the patch will shrink and pull away from the coat. Then the hole will be worse.
17. Also, people never pour new wine into old wineskins. They would break, the wine would spill out, and the wineskins would be ruined. People always put new wine into new wineskins, which won’t break, and the wine stays good.”
18. While Jesus was still talking, a leader of the synagogue came to him. The leader bowed down before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But if you will come and touch her with your hand, she will live again.”
19. So Jesus and his followers went with the man.
20. On the way, there was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. She came close behind Jesus and touched the bottom of his coat.
21. She was thinking, “If I can touch his coat, I will be healed.”
22. Jesus turned and saw the woman. He said, “Be happy, dear woman. You are made well because you believed.” Then the woman was healed.
23. Jesus continued going with the Jewish leader and went into the leader’s house. He saw people there who make music for funerals. And he saw a crowd of people crying loudly.
24. Jesus said, “Go away. The girl is not dead. She is only sleeping.” But the people laughed at him.
25. After the people were put out of the house, Jesus went into the girl’s room. He held the girl’s hand, and the girl stood up.
26. The news about this spread all around the area.