Mark 2
New Testament for Everyone
The healing of the paralytic
2 Jesus went back again to Capernaum, where, after a few days, word got round that he was at home. 2 A crowd gathered, so that people couldn’t even get near the door as he was telling them the message.
3 A party arrived: four people carrying a paralyzed man, bringing him to Jesus. 4 They couldn’t get through to him because of the crowd, so they opened up the roof above where he was. When they had dug through it, they used ropes to let down the stretcher on which the paralyzed man was lying.
5 Jesus saw their faith, and said to the paralyzed man, “Child, your sins are forgiven!”
6 “How dare the fellow speak like this?” grumbled some of the legal experts among themselves. 7 “It’s blasphemy! Who can forgive sins except God?”
8 Jesus knew at once, in his spirit, that thoughts like this were in the air. “Why do your hearts tell you to think that?” he asked. 9 “Answer me this,” he went on. “Is it easier to say to this cripple, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your stretcher, and walk’?
10 “You want to know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins?” He turned to the paralytic. 11 “I tell you,” he said, “Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.” 12 He got up, picked up the stretcher in a flash, and went out before them all.
Everyone was astonished, and they praised God. “We’ve never seen anything like this!” they said.
The calling of Levi
13 Once more Jesus went out beside the sea. All the crowd came to him, and he taught them.
14 As he went along he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the toll booth. “Follow me!” he said. And he got up and followed him.
15 That’s how Jesus came to be sitting at home with lots of tax-collectors and sinners. There they were, plenty of them, sitting with Jesus and his disciples; they had become his followers.
16 When the legal experts from the Pharisees saw him eating with tax-collectors and sinners, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?”
17 When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “It’s sick people who need the doctor, not healthy ones. I came to call the bad people, not the good ones.”
Questions about fasting
18 John’s disciples, and the Pharisees’ disciples, were fasting. People came and said to Jesus, “Look here: John’s disciples are fasting, and so are the Pharisees’ disciples; why aren’t yours?”
19 “How can the wedding guests fast,” Jesus replied, “if the bridegroom is there with them? As long as they’ve got the bridegroom with them, they can’t fast.
20 “Mind you, the time is coming when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. They’ll fast then all right.
21 “No one sews unshrunk cloth onto an old cloak. If they do, the new patch will tear the old cloth, and they’ll end up with a worse hole. 22 Nor does anyone put new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the wine will burst the skins, and they’ll lose the wine and the skins together. New wine needs fresh skins.”
Teachings on the sabbath
23 One sabbath, Jesus was walking through the cornfields. His disciples made their way along, plucking corn as they went.
24 “Look here,” said the Pharisees to him, “why are they doing something illegal on the sabbath?”
25 “Haven’t you ever read what David did,” replied Jesus, “when he was in difficulties, and he and his men got hungry? 26 He went into God’s house (this was when Abiathar was high priest), and ate the ‘bread of the presence,’ which only the priests were allowed to eat—and he gave it to the people with him.
27 “The sabbath was made for humans,” he said, “not humans for the sabbath; 28 so the son of man is master even of the sabbath.”
Mark 2
International Children’s Bible
Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man
2 A few days later, Jesus came back to Capernaum. The news spread that he was home. 2 So many people gathered to hear him preach that the house was full. There was no place to stand, not even outside the door. Jesus was teaching them. 3 Some people came, bringing a paralyzed man to Jesus. Four of them were carrying the paralyzed man. 4 But they could not get to Jesus because of the crowd. So they went to the roof above Jesus and made a hole in the roof. Then they lowered the mat with the paralyzed man on it. 5 Jesus saw that these men had great faith. So he said to the paralyzed man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”
6 Some of the teachers of the law were sitting there. They saw what Jesus did, and they said to themselves, 7 “Why does this man say things like that? He is saying things that are against God. Only God can forgive sins.”
8 At once Jesus knew what these teachers of the law were thinking. So he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to tell this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to tell him, ‘Stand up. Take your mat and walk’? 10 But I will prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So Jesus said to the paralyzed man, 11 “I tell you, stand up. Take your mat and go home.” 12 Immediately the paralyzed man stood up. He took his mat and walked out while everyone was watching him.
The people were amazed and praised God. They said, “We have never seen anything like this!”
13 Jesus went to the lake again. A crowd followed him there, and he taught them. 14 While he was walking beside the lake, he saw a tax collector named Levi son of Alphaeus. Levi was sitting in the tax office. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” And Levi stood up and followed Jesus.
15 Later that day, Jesus ate at Levi’s house. There were many tax collectors and “sinners” eating there with Jesus and his followers. Many people like this followed Jesus. 16 The teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw Jesus eating with the tax collectors and “sinners.” They asked his followers, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 Jesus heard this and said to them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor. It is the sick who need a doctor. I did not come to invite good people. I came to invite sinners.”
Jesus’ Followers Are Criticized
18 One day the followers of John[a] and the Pharisees were giving up eating.[b] Some people came to Jesus and said, “John’s followers and the followers of the Pharisees give up eating. But your followers don’t. Why?”
19 Jesus answered, “When there is a wedding, the friends of the bridegroom are not sad while he is with them. They do not give up eating while the bridegroom is still there. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will leave them. Then the friends will be sad and will give up eating.
21 “When a person sews a patch over a hole on an old coat, he never uses a piece of cloth that is not yet shrunk. If he does, the patch will shrink and pull away from the coat. Then the hole will be worse. 22 Also, no one ever pours new wine into old leather bags for holding wine. If he does, the new wine will break the bags, and the wine will be ruined along with the bags for the wine. People always put new wine into new leather bags.”
Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
23 On the Sabbath day, Jesus was walking through some grainfields. His followers were with him and picked some grain to eat. 24 The Pharisees saw this and said to Jesus, “Why are your followers doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
25 Jesus answered, “You have read what David did when he and those with him were hungry and needed food. 26 It was during the time of Abiathar the high priest. David went into God’s house and ate the bread that was made holy for God. The law of Moses says that only priests may eat that bread. But David also gave some of the bread to those who were with him.”
27 Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, “The Sabbath day was made to help people. They were not made to be ruled by the Sabbath day. 28 The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Footnotes
- 2:18 John John the Baptist who preached to the Jews about Christ’s coming (Mark 1:4–8).
- 2:18 giving up eating This is called “fasting.” The people would give up eating for a special time of prayer and worship to God. It was also done to show sadness.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
