Mark 2
New Testament for Everyone
The healing of the paralytic
2 Jesus went back again to Capernaum, where, after a few days, word got round that he was at home. 2 A crowd gathered, so that people couldn’t even get near the door as he was telling them the message.
3 A party arrived: four people carrying a paralyzed man, bringing him to Jesus. 4 They couldn’t get through to him because of the crowd, so they opened up the roof above where he was. When they had dug through it, they used ropes to let down the stretcher on which the paralyzed man was lying.
5 Jesus saw their faith, and said to the paralyzed man, “Child, your sins are forgiven!”
6 “How dare the fellow speak like this?” grumbled some of the legal experts among themselves. 7 “It’s blasphemy! Who can forgive sins except God?”
8 Jesus knew at once, in his spirit, that thoughts like this were in the air. “Why do your hearts tell you to think that?” he asked. 9 “Answer me this,” he went on. “Is it easier to say to this cripple, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your stretcher, and walk’?
10 “You want to know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins?” He turned to the paralytic. 11 “I tell you,” he said, “Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.” 12 He got up, picked up the stretcher in a flash, and went out before them all.
Everyone was astonished, and they praised God. “We’ve never seen anything like this!” they said.
The calling of Levi
13 Once more Jesus went out beside the sea. All the crowd came to him, and he taught them.
14 As he went along he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the toll booth. “Follow me!” he said. And he got up and followed him.
15 That’s how Jesus came to be sitting at home with lots of tax-collectors and sinners. There they were, plenty of them, sitting with Jesus and his disciples; they had become his followers.
16 When the legal experts from the Pharisees saw him eating with tax-collectors and sinners, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?”
17 When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “It’s sick people who need the doctor, not healthy ones. I came to call the bad people, not the good ones.”
Questions about fasting
18 John’s disciples, and the Pharisees’ disciples, were fasting. People came and said to Jesus, “Look here: John’s disciples are fasting, and so are the Pharisees’ disciples; why aren’t yours?”
19 “How can the wedding guests fast,” Jesus replied, “if the bridegroom is there with them? As long as they’ve got the bridegroom with them, they can’t fast.
20 “Mind you, the time is coming when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. They’ll fast then all right.
21 “No one sews unshrunk cloth onto an old cloak. If they do, the new patch will tear the old cloth, and they’ll end up with a worse hole. 22 Nor does anyone put new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the wine will burst the skins, and they’ll lose the wine and the skins together. New wine needs fresh skins.”
Teachings on the sabbath
23 One sabbath, Jesus was walking through the cornfields. His disciples made their way along, plucking corn as they went.
24 “Look here,” said the Pharisees to him, “why are they doing something illegal on the sabbath?”
25 “Haven’t you ever read what David did,” replied Jesus, “when he was in difficulties, and he and his men got hungry? 26 He went into God’s house (this was when Abiathar was high priest), and ate the ‘bread of the presence,’ which only the priests were allowed to eat—and he gave it to the people with him.
27 “The sabbath was made for humans,” he said, “not humans for the sabbath; 28 so the son of man is master even of the sabbath.”
Mark 2
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
2 And Jesus having returned to Capernaum, after some days it was rumored about that He was in the house [probably Peter’s].
2 And so many people gathered together there that there was no longer room [for them], not even around the door; and He was discussing the Word.
3 Then they came, bringing a paralytic to Him, who had been picked up and was being carried by four men.
4 And when they could not get him to a place in front of Jesus because of the throng, they dug through the roof above Him; and when they had [a]scooped out an opening, they let down the [[b]thickly padded] quilt or mat upon which the paralyzed man lay.
5 And when Jesus saw their faith [their confidence in God through Him], He said to the paralyzed man, Son, your sins are forgiven [you] and put away [that is, the [c]penalty is remitted, the sense of guilt removed, and you are made upright and in right standing with God].
6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, holding a dialogue with themselves as they questioned in their hearts,
7 Why does this [d]Man talk like this? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins [[e]remove guilt, remit the penalty, and bestow righteousness instead] except God alone?
8 And at once Jesus, becoming fully aware in His spirit that they thus debated within themselves, said to them, Why do you argue (debate, reason) about all this in your hearts?
9 Which is easier: to say to the paralyzed man, Your sins are forgiven and [f]put away, or to say, Rise, take up your sleeping pad or mat, and start walking about [and [g]keep on walking]?
10 But that you may know positively and beyond a doubt that the Son of Man has right and authority and power on earth to forgive sins—He said to the paralyzed man,
11 I say to you, arise, pick up and carry your sleeping pad or mat, and be going on home.
12 And he arose at once and picked up the sleeping pad or mat and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and [h] recognized and praised and thanked God, saying, We have never seen anything like this before!
13 [Jesus] went out again along the seashore; and all the multitude kept gathering about Him, and He kept teaching them.
14 And as He was passing by, He saw Levi (Matthew) son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, Follow Me! [Be [i]joined to Me as a disciple, side with My party!] And he arose and joined Him as His disciple and sided with His party and accompanied Him.
15 And as Jesus, together with His disciples, sat at table in his [Levi’s] house, many tax collectors and persons [[j]definitely stained] with sin were dining with Him, for there were many who walked the same road (followed) with Him.
16 And the scribes [belonging to the party] of the Pharisees, when they saw that He was eating with [those [k]definitely known to be especially wicked] sinners and tax collectors, said to His disciples, Why does He eat and drink with tax collectors and [notorious] sinners?
17 And when Jesus heard it, He said to them, Those who are strong and well have no need of a physician, but those who are weak and sick; I came not to call the righteous ones to repentance, but sinners (the [l]erring ones and [m]all those not free from sin).
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were observing a fast; and [some people] came and asked Jesus, Why are John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fasting, but Your disciples are not doing so?
19 Jesus answered them, Can the wedding guests fast (abstain from food and drink) while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.
20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and they will fast in that day.
21 No one sews a patch of unshrunken (new) goods on an old garment; if he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and the rent (tear) becomes bigger and worse [than it was before].
22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the bottles destroyed; but new wine is to be put in new (fresh) wineskins.
23 One Sabbath He was going along beside the fields of standing grain, and as they made their way, His disciples began to [n]pick off the grains.(A)
24 And the Pharisees said to Him, Look! Why are they doing what is not permitted or lawful on the Sabbath?
25 And He said to them, Have you never [even] read what David did when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were accompanying him?—
26 How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was the high priest, and ate the sacred loaves set forth [before God], which it is not permitted or lawful for any but the priests to eat, and [how he] also gave [them] to those who were with him?(B)
27 And Jesus said to them, The Sabbath was made on account and for the sake of man, not man for the Sabbath;(C)
28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.
Footnotes
- Mark 2:4 Marvin Vincent, Word Studies.
- Mark 2:4 Marvin Vincent, Word Studies.
- Mark 2:5 Kenneth Wuest, Word Studies.
- Mark 2:7 Capitalized because of what He is, the spotless Son of God, not what the speakers may have thought He was.
- Mark 2:7 Kenneth Wuest, Word Studies.
- Mark 2:9 Kenneth Wuest, Word Studies.
- Mark 2:9 Kenneth Wuest, Word Studies.
- Mark 2:12 Hermann Cremer, Biblico-Theological Lexicon.
- Mark 2:14 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
- Mark 2:15 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
- Mark 2:16 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
- Mark 2:17 Robert Young, Analytical Concordance to the Bible.
- Mark 2:17 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
- Mark 2:23 Kenneth Wuest, Word Studies.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
