Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man

9 Jesus climbed into a boat and went back across the lake to his own town.

Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man

2 When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. ² Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them,

Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man

¹⁷ One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord’s healing power was strongly with Jesus.

¹⁸ Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus,

⁴ They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. ⁵ Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶ But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, ⁷ “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”

⁸ Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? ⁹ Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? ¹⁰ So I will prove to you that the Son of Man^[a] has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, ¹¹ “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”

²⁵ And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home praising God.

⁸ Fear swept through the crowd as they saw this happen. And they praised God for giving humans such authority.

²⁶ Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!”