1 And when he came into Capernaum again after some days, the news went about that he was in the house. 2 And a great number had come together, so that there was no longer room for them, no, not even about the door: and he gave them teaching. 3 And four men came to him with one on a bed who had no power of moving. 4 And when they were unable to get near him because of all the people, they got the roof uncovered where he was: and when it was broken up, they let down the bed on which the man was. 5 And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to him, Son, you have forgiveness for your sins. 6 But there were certain of the scribes seated there, and reasoning in their hearts, 7 Why does this man say such things? he has no respect for God: from whom does forgiveness come but from God only? 8 And Jesus, having knowledge in his spirit of their thoughts, said to them, Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? 9 Which is the simpler, to say to a man who is ill, You have forgiveness for your sins, or, Get up, take up your bed, and go? 10 But so that you may see that the Son of man has authority for the forgiveness of sins on earth, (he said to the man,) 11 I say to you, Get up, take up your bed, and go to your house. 12 And he got up, and straight away took up the bed and went out before them all, so that they were all full of wonder, and gave glory to God, saying, We have never seen anything like this. 13 And he went out again by the seaside; and all the people came to him, and he gave them teaching. 14 And when he went by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, seated at the place where taxes were taken, and he said to him, Come with me. And he got up, and went with him. 15 And it came about that he was seated at meat in his house, and a number of tax-farmers and sinners were at table with Jesus and his disciples: for there were a great number of them, and they came after him. 16 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was taking food with the tax-farmers and sinners, said to his disciples, Why does he take food and drink with such men? 17 And Jesus, hearing it, said to them, Those who are well have no need of a medical man, but those who are ill: I have come not to get the upright but sinners. 18 And John's disciples and the Pharisees were taking no food: and they came and said to him, Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees go without food, but your disciples do not? 19 And Jesus said to them, Will the friends of a newly-married man go without food while he is with them? as long as they have him with them they will not go without food. 20 But the days will come when the husband will be taken away from them, and then they will go without food. 21 No man puts a bit of new cloth on an old coat: or the new, by pulling away from the old, makes a worse hole. 22 And no man puts new wine into old wine-skins: or the skins will be burst by the wine, and the wine and the skins will be wasted: but new wine has to be put into new wine-skins. 23 And it came about that on the Sabbath day he was going through the grain-fields; and while they were walking, his disciples took the heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees said to him, Why are they doing what it is not right to do on the Sabbath? 25 And he said to them, Have you no knowledge of what David did, when he had need and was without food, he, and those who were with him? 26 How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and took for food the holy bread, which only the priests may take, and gave it to those who were with him? 27 And he said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; 28 So that the Son of man is lord even of the Sabbath.
Mark 2 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Alphaeus
Named as father of James, one of the Twelve (Matthew 10:3), and as the father of Levi the tax collector (Mark 2:14); the text does not say whether these are two different men…
Cited in the guide: Matthew 10:3; Mark 2:14; Mark 3:18
Matthew
A tax collector sitting at the tax booth whom Jesus told 'Follow Me'; Matthew calls him Matthew, while Mark and Luke tell the same call and name him Levi, and Mark 2:14 calls Levi…
Cited in the guide: Matthew 9:9; Matthew 10:3; Mark 2:14
Places
Capernaum
A fishing and customs town on the Sea of Galilee where Jesus healed, taught, and called disciples. Its ruins include a 4th–5th c. synagogue built over an earlier one.
Cited in the guide: Matthew 4:13; Mark 2:1; Matthew 11:23
Cross references (28)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Luke 5:18; John 4:47; Luke 18:35–38; Matthew 9:1; Mark 7:24
- 2 Mark 2:13; Mark 1:45; Mark 6:34; Mark 1:33; Mark 4:1–2
- 3 Luke 5:18–26; Matthew 9:1–8; Matthew 4:24
- 4 Luke 5:19; Deuteronomy 22:8
- 5 Matthew 9:2; James 5:15; Mark 2:9–10; Luke 7:47–50; Luke 5:20
- 6 Luke 5:21–22; Mark 8:17; 2 Corinthians 10:5; Matthew 16:7–8
- 7 Isaiah 43:25; Luke 5:21; Daniel 9:9; Micah 7:18; Luke 7:49
- 8 Psalm 139:2; Ezekiel 38:10; John 2:24–25; John 6:64; Luke 24:38
- 9 Luke 5:22–25; Matthew 9:5
- 10 Daniel 7:13–14; Matthew 9:6–8; Acts 5:31; John 5:20–27; 1 Timothy 1:13–16
- 11 Mark 1:41; John 5:8–10; John 6:63
- 12 Matthew 9:33; Matthew 9:8; Luke 7:16; John 9:32; John 7:31
- 13 Proverbs 1:20–22; Mark 4:1; Luke 21:38; Mark 3:20–21; Mark 2:2
- 14 Luke 5:27–32; Mark 1:17–20; Luke 6:15; Matthew 9:9–13; Mark 3:18
- 15 Luke 15:1; Matthew 9:10–11; Luke 5:29–30; Matthew 21:31–32; Luke 6:17
- 16 Luke 18:11; Luke 19:7; Luke 19:10; Acts 23:9; Isaiah 65:5
- 17 Luke 15:7; Matthew 9:12–13; Luke 19:10; Luke 5:31–32; 1 Timothy 1:15–16
- 18 Luke 18:12; Matthew 6:18; Matthew 9:14–17; Matthew 6:16; Luke 5:33–39
- 19 Matthew 25:1–10; Genesis 29:22; Judges 14:10–11
- 20 Luke 17:22; Revelation 21:9; Isaiah 62:5; Revelation 19:7; Zechariah 13:7
- 21 Matthew 9:16; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Isaiah 57:16; Psalm 103:13–15
- 22 Matthew 9:17; Psalm 119:83; Luke 5:37–38; Job 32:19; Joshua 9:4
- 23 Deuteronomy 23:24–25; Matthew 12:1–8; Luke 6:1–5
- 24 Exodus 20:10; Hebrews 12:3; Matthew 12:2; Isaiah 58:13; Exodus 31:15
- 25 1 Samuel 21:3–6; Luke 10:26
- 26 2 Samuel 8:17; Leviticus 24:5–9; 1 Samuel 21:1; 1 Chronicles 24:6; 1 Kings 2:26–27
- 27 Colossians 2:16; Luke 6:9; Deuteronomy 5:14; Ezekiel 20:12; Isaiah 58:13
- 28 Matthew 12:8; Revelation 1:10; John 9:14; John 5:17; Ephesians 1:22
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Thy bed did carry thee, thou carriedst not thy bed, but wast a paralytic inwardly; He cometh who saith to thee, "Take up thy bed, and go thy way into thy house." "The Lord help him on his bed of pain." Then to the Lord Himself He turneth, as though it were asked, Why then, since the Lord helpeth us, …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
Now Matthew indeed saith, that "they brought him," but the others, that they also broke up the roof, and let him down. And they put the sick man before Christ, saying nothing, but committing the whole to Him.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
Or in another sense they are used of a thing which is not reasonable; as, Can the Children of the Bridechamber fast while the Bridegroom is with them; whether He be considered as visible in bodily form (for the time of His sojourning among us was not one of mourning, but of gladness), or, as the Word.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
Upon their murmuring, then, and saying, "This man blasphemeth; who can forgive sins but God only?" let us see what He saith.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
And we have cause also to admire the self-denial of the evangelist, how he disguises not his own former life, but adds even his name, when the others had concealed him under another appellation. But why did he say he was "sitting at the receipt of custom?" To indicate the power of Him that called him, that it was not …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)