1 And again he entered into Capharnaum after some days. 2 And it was heard that he was in the house, and many came together, so that there was no room; no, not even at the door; and he spoke to them the word. 3 And they came to him, bringing one sick of the palsy, who was carried by four. 4 And when they could not offer him unto him for the multitude, they uncovered the roof where he was; and opening it, they let down the bed wherein the man sick of the palsy lay. 5 And when Jesus had seen their faith, he saith to the sick of the palsy: Son, thy sins are forgiven thee. 6 And there were some of the scribes sitting there, and thinking in their hearts: 7 Why doth this man speak thus? he blasphemeth. Who can forgive sins, but God only? 8 Which Jesus presently knowing in his spirit, that they so thought within themselves, saith to them: Why think you these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the sick of the palsy: Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say: Arise, take up thy bed, and walk? 10 But that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) 11 I say to thee: Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house. 12 And immediately he arose; and taking up his bed, went his way in the sight of all; so that all wondered and glorified God, saying: We never saw the like. 13 And he went forth again to the sea side; and all the multitude came to him, and he taught them. 14 And when he was passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alpheus sitting at the receipt of custom; and he saith to him: Follow me. And rising up, he followed him. 15 And it came to pass, that as he sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat down together with Jesus and his disciples. For they were many, who also followed him. 16 And the scribes and the Pharisees, seeing that he ate with publicans and sinners, said to his disiples: Why doth your master eat and drink with publicans and sinners? 17 Jesus hearing this, saith to them: They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners. 18 And the disiples of John and the Pharisees used to fast; and they come and say to him: Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast; but thy disciples do not fast? 19 And Jesus saith to them: Can the children of the marriage fast, as long as 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 shall be taken away from them; and then they shall fast in those days. 21 No man seweth a piece of raw cloth to an old garment: otherwise the new piecing taketh away from the old, and there is made a greater rent. 22 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: otherwise the wine will burst the bottles, and both the wine will be spilled, and the bottles will be lost. But new wine must be put into new bottles. 23 And it came to pass again, as the Lord walked through the corn fields on the sabbath, that his disciples began to go forward, and to pluck the ears of corn. 24 And the Pharisees said to him: Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? 25 And he said to them: Have you never read what David did when he had need, and was hungry himself, and they that were with him? 26 How he went into the house of God, under Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the loaves of proposition, which was not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave to them who were with him? 27 And he said to them: The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. 28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord of the sabbath also.
Mark · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Mark 2 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
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
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
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)