For which is easier…?: the Jews of the New Testament period believed that the healing of a person’s body was evidence that God had forgiven him, and so Jesus bases his remarks on that presupposition. He is not in any way intimating that the forgiveness of sin was less difficult for him than the healing of the man’s body.

Languages will demonstrate quite a variety in the way they handle this question. Some translations will have “Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say ‘Get up and walk’?” Others will structure the verse like this: “I can say ‘Your sins are forgiven’ and I can also say ‘Get up and walk.’ Which is easier?” Since the question can imply that Jesus was suggesting the one was easier than the other, another way to render the verse is “Isn’t it just as easy (or, It’s just as easy) to say ‘Your sins are forgiven’ as it is to say ‘Get up and walk’?” Some translators will have to use indirect speech, as in “Isn’t it just as easy to tell this man his sins are forgiven as it is to tell him to get up and walk?”

Your sins are forgiven is discussed in Matthew 9.2. See comments there.

Rise (Good News Translation “Get up”) and walk is a fairly literal rendering of the Greek text. The translation should not imply that Jesus told the man to “walk away” or “walk off.” Translators can perhaps say “Get up and walk about.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .