Mark 2
The full text of Mark 2 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.
1 A few days later, when Jesus came back to Capernaum, word spread that he was at home.
2 So many gathered that there was no more room, not even at the door, and he was speaking the word to them.
3 Some men came to him, bringing a paralyzed man carried by four of them.
4 Since they couldn't get him through the crowd, they stripped the roof above him; after digging through, they lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.
5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, "My son, your sins are forgiven."
6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, thinking to themselves,
7 "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
8 Jesus knew immediately in his spirit that they were reasoning this way among themselves, and he said to them, "Why are you reasoning these things in your hearts?
9 Which is easier: to say to the paralyzed man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat, and walk'?
10 "But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"—he said to the paralyzed man—
11 "I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home."
12 He got up, and at once he picked up his mat and walked out in front of them all. Everyone was amazed and praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"
13 Once again Jesus went out beside the sea. The whole crowd came to him, and he began teaching them.
14 As he was passing by, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth, and he says to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him.
15 And it happened that, as he was reclining at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples — for there were many, and they were following him.
16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw him eating with sinners and tax collectors, they kept saying to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
17 When Jesus heard it, he said to them, "It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
18 John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and some came and asked him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"
19 Jesus said to them, "The wedding party can't fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.
20 But a time is coming when the bridegroom will be torn away from them — and then, on that day, they will fast.
21 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth onto an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece tears away from the old, and the tear becomes worse.
22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. No—new wine goes into new wineskins.
23 One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and his disciples, as they went, began plucking heads of grain.
24 The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is not permitted on the Sabbath?"
25 He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and his companions—
26 how he entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the consecrated bread, which only the priests are allowed to eat, and he gave some to his companions as well?"
27 He kept telling them, "The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.
28 Therefore the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.
Translation notes (27)
- Mark 2:1a This can also be translated as "after some days." The Greek phrase di hemeron indicates that an interval of several days had passed.
- Mark 2:4a First-century Galilean homes had flat roofs made of beams, branches, and packed clay, which were typically reached by an outside stairway. The two verbs in this verse describe sequential actions: first removing the upper covering, then digging through the mud-clay layer.
- Mark 2:5a The Greek word teknon literally means "child." It is used here as an affectionate way for an elder to address a younger person.
- Mark 2:5b The critical Greek text reads aphientai, meaning 'are forgiven'; later Byzantine manuscripts read apheontai, meaning 'have been forgiven'.
- Mark 2:6a The Greek phrase 'reasoning in their hearts' refers to inner thought and deliberation, as the heart in Greek thought was considered the seat of the mind, not emotions.
- Mark 2:7a This can also be translated as 'That's blasphemy.' The Greek word blasphemei is a verb meaning 'he blasphemes.' Since the scribes are reasoning silently in verse 6, this accusation is an inner thought, not a spoken statement.
- Mark 2:8a This can also be translated as 'arguing' or 'debating.' The Greek word dialogizomai describes internal deliberation, which often includes a sense of dispute.
- Mark 2:9a This can also be translated as 'Your sins have been forgiven.' The Greek present passive verb aphientai states a fact, meaning 'are forgiven'; some manuscripts read the perfect tense apheontai, meaning 'have been forgiven'.
- Mark 2:12a Greek κράβαττον: a poor man's pallet; a Latin loanword (grabatus) characteristic of Mark's colloquial register, where Matt 9:6 and Luke 5:24 use the more refined κλίνη.
- Mark 2:15a The Greek phrase 'in his house' is unclear about whose house it refers to. It is likely Levi's house, as he was the host of the banquet (compare Luke 5:29), though some understand it to be Jesus' house in Capernaum (compare Mark 2:1).
- Mark 2:15b To 'recline at table' describes the ancient Mediterranean custom for a formal meal, where diners lay on couches around a low table. This detail indicates a banquet, not a casual meal, which is why the shared meal in verse 16 was considered scandalous.
- Mark 2:16a Some manuscripts, including A, C, K, and the majority text, read 'the scribes and the Pharisees.' However, the earliest witnesses, such as א (Aleph), B, L, and W, read 'the scribes of the Pharisees,' meaning scribes who belonged to the Pharisee party.
- Mark 2:16b The Greek imperfect tense verb elegon, meaning 'kept saying' or 'were saying,' suggests that the grumbling was repeated, not just a single remark.
- Mark 2:17a Some later manuscripts, including those used for the King James Version and the Textus Receptus, add 'to repentance' at the end, making the verse consistent with Luke 5:32. However, the earliest witnesses, such as א (Aleph), B, D, and W, end with 'sinners.'
- Mark 2:19a The Greek phrase 'sons of the bridechamber' is a Semitic idiom, meaning the bridegroom's attendants or his wedding party, not just general guests.
- Mark 2:19b The bridegroom imagery evokes OT depictions of the LORD as Israel's husband (Isa 62:5; Hos 2:16-20); Jesus applies it to himself.
- Mark 2:20a The critical Greek text reads the singular 'on that day' (en ekeinē tē hēmera); however, some Western and later Byzantine manuscripts, including D and W, read the plural 'in those days' (en ekeinais tais hēmerais).
- Mark 2:20b 'Torn away' renders ἀπαρθῇ (aor. pass. subj. of ἀπαίρω), which carries a forceful nuance often read as foreshadowing the violent removal of the Passion; cf. Isa 53:8 LXX.
- Mark 2:21a The Greek literally says: 'the filling takes from it, the new from the old.' The words for 'patch' (epiblema) and 'piece' (plērōma) are distinct. Mark's image means that the new, shrinking cloth tears off a chunk of the old garment.
- Mark 2:21b εἰ δὲ μή is a fixed Koine idiom: 'otherwise.' Cf. parallel at Matt 9:16.
- Mark 2:23a The Greek phrase 'to make a way' (hodon poiein) can mean either 'to make their journey' or 'to clear a path' by plucking grain. Both interpretations are supported in scholarly commentaries.
- Mark 2:24a The Greek word tois sabbasin is plural in its grammatical form, but it is an idiom that refers to the single weekly Sabbath day.
- Mark 2:26a The Greek phrase epi Abiathar archiereōs, meaning 'in the time of Abiathar the high priest,' creates a well-known historical difficulty because 1 Samuel 21 names Ahimelech, Abiathar's father, as the priest who gave David the bread. The Greek phrase 'epi' with the genitive case can mean 'in the time of,' 'when X was [later],' or 'in the passage about.' Some ancient manuscripts, including D and W, omit this phrase, likely a change made by scribes to remove this difficulty.
- Mark 2:26b 'Consecrated bread' (τοὺς ἄρτους τῆς προθέσεως) renders the Greek for the 'bread of the Presence' — the twelve loaves set before the LORD in the tabernacle (Lev 24:5–9).
- Mark 2:27a This can also be translated 'for humanity ... not humanity for the Sabbath.' The Greek word anthrōpos means a human being of either sex, or humankind, and is distinct from anēr, which refers to an adult male.
- Mark 2:27b The Greek imperfect verb elegen, meaning 'kept telling' or 'was saying,' suggests that this was a recurring teaching rather than a one-time remark.
- Mark 2:28a This can also be translated 'lord also of the Sabbath.' The Greek word kai can mean 'even' or 'also'; the wordplay between anthrōpos ('human being') in verse 27 and huios tou anthrōpou ('Son of Man') in verse 28 allows for a more generic interpretation.
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