Mark 2 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Events around AD 27 to 28, early in Jesus' public work; the book itself written around AD 65 to 70
Location
Capernaum, a fishing and customs town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, and the grain fields nearby
Audience
Greek-speaking Christians outside Palestine, most likely in Rome, who needed Jewish customs explained to them
Situation
Four men dig through a roof to lower a paralysed friend to Jesus, who forgives his sins before healing him. The chapter then stacks up four more clashes with religious leaders: eating with tax collectors, not fasting, and picking grain on the Sabbath.
Key Background
Galilean village houses had flat roofs of packed clay over wooden beams and brushwood, reached by an outside stair, so digging through one was messy but repairable rather than destructive. Capernaum sat on a trade road near a border, which is why a customs post and a tax collector like Levi were stationed there, and why tax collectors were despised as men who profited from their neighbours on behalf of foreign power. Fasting beyond the one day required by the law was a voluntary mark of piety, so a teacher whose followers did not fast was making a visible claim about what time it was.
A few days later, Jesus came back to and word got around that he was home.
So many people packed in that there wasn't even room left by the door. And he was speaking the to them.
Then some people came bringing a to him, carried by four of them.
But they couldn't get to Jesus because of the crowd, so they tore open the above where he was, dug through it, and lowered the the paralyzed man was lying on.
When Jesus saw their he said to the paralyzed man, "Friend, your are
Now some of the were sitting there, thinking it over in their heads:
"Why does this man talk like that? He's Who can forgive failures except alone?"
Jesus immediately knew in what they were thinking, and said to them, "Why are you thinking these things?"
"Which is easier — to say to the paralyzed man, 'Your failures are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, pick up your mat, and walk'?"
"But so you'll know that the of has the on earth to forgive failures..." — he turned to the paralyzed —
"I'm telling you: get up, pick up your mat, and go home."
And the man got up, immediately picked up his mat, and walked out in front of everyone. They were all completely stunned and God, saying, "We've never seen anything like this!"
Jesus went out again along the and the whole crowd kept coming to him, and he was teaching them.
As he was walking along, he saw son of Alphaeus sitting at the Jesus said to him, me." And got up and followed him.
Later, Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, and a large number of tax collectors and for their were eating with Jesus and his — because many of them had started following him.
When the religious scholars who were saw him eating with tax collectors and people known for their failures, they said to his followers, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and people known for their failures?"
When Jesus heard this, he said to them, "Healthy don't need a doctor — sick do. I didn't come to call who have it all I came for the who are
and the Pharisees were observing a Some people came to Jesus and asked, "How come and the Pharisees' but yours don't?"
Jesus answered, "Can go without eating while the is right there with them? As long as the is with them, they can't fast.
But the time will come when the groom is from them, and then — on that day — they will fast.
"Nobody sews a patch of onto an old coat. If you do, the new patch will pull away from the old fabric and make the tear even worse.
And nobody pours into stiff old If you do, the will burst the skins, and you'll lose both the and the skins. No — fresh goes into new, flexible
One Jesus was walking through the fields, and his followers began of as they walked.
The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what's not on the Sabbath?"
He said to them, "Haven't you ever read what did when he and his men were hungry and in need?
How he went into during the time of the high priest, and ate the for which only the priests were allowed to eat, and shared it with the men who were with him?"
Then he told them, "The Sabbath was for not for the Sabbath.
So the of is even of the Sabbath."