1 And again he entered into Capernaum, after [some] days, and it was heard that he is in the house, 2 and immediately many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door, and he was speaking to them the word. 3 And they come unto him, bringing a paralytic, borne by four, 4 and not being able to come near to him because of the multitude, they uncovered the roof where he was, and, having broken [it] up, they let down the couch on which the paralytic was lying, 5 and Jesus having seen their faith, saith to the paralytic, 'Child, thy sins have been forgiven thee.' 6 And there were certain of the scribes there sitting, and reasoning in their hearts, 7 'Why doth this one thus speak evil words? who is able to forgive sins except one — God?' 8 And immediately Jesus, having known in his spirit that they thus reason in themselves, said to them, 'Why these things reason ye in your hearts? 9 which is easier, to say to the paralytic, The sins have been forgiven to thee? or to say, Rise, and take up thy couch, and walk? 10 'And, that ye may know that the Son of Man hath authority on the earth to forgive sins — (he saith to the paralytic) — 11 I say to thee, Rise, and take up thy couch, and go away to thy house;' 12 and he rose immediately, and having taken up the couch, he went forth before all, so that all were astonished, and do glorify God, saying — 'Never thus did we see.' 13 And he went forth again by the sea, and all the multitude was coming unto him, and he was teaching them, 14 and passing by, he saw Levi of Alpheus sitting at the tax-office, and saith to him, 'Be following me,' and he, having risen, did follow him. 15 And it came to pass, in his reclining (at meat) in his house, that many tax-gatherers and sinners were reclining (at meat) with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him. 16 And the scribes and the Pharisees, having seen him eating with the tax-gatherers and sinners, said to his disciples, 'Why — that with the tax-gatherers and sinners he doth eat and drink?' 17 And Jesus, having heard, saith to them, 'They who are strong have no need of a physician, but they who are ill; I came not to call righteous men, but sinners to reformation.' 18 And the disciples of John and those of the Pharisees were fasting, and they come and say to him, 'Wherefore do the disciples of John and those of the Pharisees fast, and thy disciples do not fast?' 19 And Jesus said to them, 'Are the sons of the bride-chamber able, while the bridegroom is with them, to fast? so long time as they have the bridegroom with them they are not able to fast; 20 but days shall come when the bridegroom may be taken from them, and then they shall fast — in those days. 21 'And no one a patch of undressed cloth doth sew on an old garment, and if not — the new filling it up doth take from the old and the rent doth become worse; 22 and no one doth put new wine into old skins, and if not — the new wine doth burst the skins, and the wine is poured out, and the skins will be destroyed; but new wine into new skins is to be put.' 23 And it came to pass — he is going along on the sabbaths through the corn-fields — and his disciples began to make a way, plucking the ears, 24 and the Pharisees said to him, 'Lo, why do they on the sabbaths that which is not lawful?' 25 And he said to them, 'Did ye never read what David did, when he had need and was hungry, he and those with him? 26 how he went into the house of God, (at 'Abiathar the chief priest,') and the loaves of the presentation did eat, which it is not lawful to eat, except to the priests, and he gave also to those who were with him?' 27 And he said to them, 'The sabbath for man was made, not man for the sabbath, 28 so that the son of man is lord also of the sabbath.'
Mark · Young's Literal Translation
Mark 2 Young's Literal Translation
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
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)