Markus 2:3-5

2:3 Some people ¹  came bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. ²  2:4 When they were not able to bring him in because of the crowd, they removed the roof ³  above Jesus. ⁴  Then, ⁵  after tearing it out, they lowered the stretcher the paralytic was lying on. 2:5 When Jesus saw their ⁶  faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” ⁷ 

[2:3]  ¹ tn Grk “they”; the referent (some unnamed people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:3]  ² tn The redundancy in this verse is characteristic of the author’s rougher style.

[2:4]  ³ sn A house in 1st century Palestine would have had a flat roof with stairs or a ladder going up. This access was often from the outside of the house.

[2:4]  ⁴ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:4]  ⁵ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[2:5]  ⁶ sn The plural pronoun their makes it clear that Jesus was responding to the faith of the entire group, not just the paralyzed man.

[2:5]  ⁷ sn The passive voice here is a divine passive (ExSyn 437). It is clear that God does the forgiving.