Matius 9:5

9:5 Which is easier, ¹  to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’?

Matius 21:5

21:5 “Tell the people of Zion, ² 

‘Look, your king is coming to you,

unassuming and seated on a donkey,

and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” ³ 

[9:5]  ¹ sn Which is easier is a reflective kind of question. On the one hand to declare sins are forgiven is easier, since one does not need to see it, unlike telling a paralyzed person to walk. On the other hand, it is harder, because for it to be true one must possess the authority to forgive the sin.

[21:5]  ² tn Grk “Tell the daughter of Zion” (the phrase “daughter of Zion” is an idiom for the inhabitants of Jerusalem: “people of Zion”). The idiom “daughter of Zion” has been translated as “people of Zion” because the original idiom, while firmly embedded in the Christian tradition, is not understandable to most modern English readers.

[21:5]  ³ tn Grk “the foal of an animal under the yoke,” i.e., a hard-working animal. This is a quotation from Zech 9:9.