A Man Lowered Through a Roof

^17 [a]One day He was teaching, and ^(A)there were some Pharisees and ^(B)teachers of the Law sitting there who had ^(C)come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem; and ^(D)the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. ^18 (E)And some men were carrying a man on a stretcher who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. ¹⁹ But when they did not find any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on ^(F)the roof and let him down ^(G)through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. ²⁰ And seeing their faith, He said, “^[b]Friend, ^(H)your sins are forgiven you.” ²¹ The scribes and the Pharisees ^(I)began thinking of the implications, saying, “^(J)Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? ^(K)Who can forgive sins, except God alone?” ²² But Jesus, ^[c]aware of their thoughts, responded and said to them, “Why are you thinking this way in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” He said to the ^(L)man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher, and go home.” ²⁵ And immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home ^(M)glorifying God. ²⁶ And ^[d]they were all struck with astonishment and began ^(N)glorifying God. They were also filled ^(O)with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today!”