Mark 2

CHAPTER 2

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

¹And when He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.

²And ^amany were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.

^3aAnd they ^*came, bringing to Him a ^bparalytic, carried by four men.

⁴And being unable to bring him to ¹Jesus because of the crowd, they ^aremoved the roof over where He was; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the mat where the ^bparalytic was lying.

⁵And Jesus seeing their faith ^*said to the paralytic, “Child, ^ayour sins are forgiven.”

⁶But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,

⁷“Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; ^awho can forgive sins ¹but God alone?”

⁸Immediately Jesus, aware ¹in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, ^*said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?

⁹“Which is easier, to say to the ^aparalytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your mat and walk’?

¹⁰“But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He ^*said to the paralytic,

¹¹“I say to you, get up, pick up your mat, and go to your home.”

¹²And he got up and immediately picked up the mat and went out before everyone, so that they were all amazed and ^awere glorifying God, saying, “^bWe have never seen anything like this.”

¹³And He went out again by the seashore; and ^athe entire crowd was coming to Him, and He was teaching them.

Levi and Sinners Called

^14aAnd as He passed by, He saw ^1bLevi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He ^*said to him, “^cFollow Me!” And he stood up and followed Him.

¹⁵And it ^*1happened that as He was reclining at the table in his house, many tax collectors and ²sinners ³were reclining with Jesus and His disciples. For there were many of them, and they were following Him.

¹⁶And when ^athe scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they were saying to His disciples, “^bHe is eating and drinking with tax collectors and ¹sinners!”

¹⁷And hearing this, Jesus ^*said to them, “^aThose who are healthy do not have need for a physician, but only those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

^18aAnd John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they ^*came and ^*said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁹And Jesus said to them, “Can ¹the attendants of the bridegroom fast when the bridegroom is with them? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

²⁰“But the ^adays will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

²¹“No one sews ¹a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise ²that patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results.

²²“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”

Lord of the Sabbath

^23aAnd it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while ^bpicking the heads of grain.

²⁴And the Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, ^awhy are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

²⁵And He ^*said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry;

²⁶how he entered the house of God around the time of ^aAbiathar the high priest, and ate the ¹consecrated bread, which ^bis not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?”

²⁷And Jesus was saying to them, “^aThe Sabbath ¹was made ²for man, and ^bnot man ³for the Sabbath.

²⁸“Consequently the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”