Scriptures

New Living Translation (NLT)

Mark 2
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,
³ four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat.
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 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!”
¹² And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!”