complete verse (Mark 2:9)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 2:9:

  • Uma: “I, the Child of Mankind, I do have authority in the world to forgive sins. But if I say to this lame person: ‘Your (sing.) sins are forgiven,’ you do not know whether they are really forgiven or not. But if I say: ‘Get up, roll up your (sing.) mat, and walk,’ you will see whether it happens or not. So I will show you that I have authority to forgive sin.’ From there, he turned to that lame person,” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Which is the easier, to say to this paralyzed person, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Get up, take your bed (lit. for-lying-on) and walk.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For which is easier to a mere person? Is it to forgive the sins of this paralyzed man or is it to heal him so that he can rise and pick up his hammock and walk?” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “It is admittedly easier to say, ‘Your (sing.) sins will-be forgiven’ than ‘Get-up, pick-up that stretcher of yours (sing.) to walk.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Which is easier to say to this person who is paralyzed? Is it, ‘Your sins have now been forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand, carry what you are lying on and go now’? Isn’t it so that they are the same in that only the supernatural-power of God can do it?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Michoacán Nahuatl: “Which is harder for me to do in order to show you that I can forgive sins? Is it harder for me to tell this man, I forgive your sins? Is it harder to tell this man, Get up . . .”
  • Ojitlán Chinantec: “Surely if I can make him get up, pick up his bed, and walk away with it, I can also forgive his sins.
  • Western Highland Chatino: “Who can know if I can truly forgive sins if I say to the sick man that I forgive his sins? But if I tell the sick man to get up, pick up his bed,and walk, immediately you know whether I have authority or not.” (Source for this and two above: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)

Translation commentary on Mark 2:9

Exegesis:

ti estin eukopōteron ‘what is easier?’ The question answers itself: it is easier to say “Your sins are forgiven” because this statement is not susceptible of proof, while to say “Rise, take up your pallet and walk” would expose Jesus to ridicule should the paralytic not be able to obey the order. By proving he could do the harder Jesus proved he could do the (apparently) easier.

eukopōteron (10.25) ‘easier’: appears only in the comparative form in the New Testament (eukopos ‘easy’).

egeire (cf. 1.31) ‘rise,’ ‘get up.’

peripatei (5.42; 6.48, 49; 8.24; 11.27; 12.38; 16.12; used once figuratively of manner of life, 7.5) ‘walk,’ ‘go about.’

Translation:

Opposites such as ‘easy’ and ‘hard,’ ‘good’ and ‘bad,’ and ‘smooth’ and ‘rough,’ etc., may consist of words having contrastive meanings, or they may occur as positives and negatives. For example, in Tzotzil ‘easy’ is literally ‘not hard’ and in Yucateco ‘good’ is literally ‘not bad.’ Accordingly in this verse in Tzotzil one must say, ‘what is more not hard.’

Comparatives are expressed in a variety of ways, and hence this sentence must be recast to fit the syntactic and lexical requirements of the language into which one is translating, e.g. ‘shall I say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven, or shall I say, Rise…, which of the two is not hard’ (Southern Bobo Madaré). The reverse order is used in Central Tarahumara: ‘What manner is not hard? To say … or to say….’

Rise means ‘stand up,’ not as in one translation ‘to rise miraculously off the ground.’

Take up your pallet may be rendered in some cases as ‘roll up your mat’ (Tzeltal) or ‘pick up your stretcher.’

Walk does not imply here ‘to go home’ or ‘to leave,’ but to demonstrate the ability to walk, i.e. ‘to walk about.’

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on Mark 2:9

2:9

In this verse Jesus asked the teachers of the law a rhetorical question. He asked it because he wanted people to think carefully about his authority. He did not ask it to get information from them. There are two main ways to translate this rhetorical question.

• As a question. For example:

I have said to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven.” Would it be easier to tell him, “Rise, take your mat, and walk?”

• As a statement. For example:

Think about this: I have told the paralytic that his sins are forgiven. Consider whether it would be easier to tell him to get up and walk.

Use a form that will express the meaning most clearly in your language.

2:9a

“Which is easier: to say…?: The phrase Which is easier: to say… introduces a rhetorical question that compares two sayings. These sayings represent two actions: forgiving the paralytic’s sins and healing the paralytic.

Both of these actions require God’s power. Forgiving sins requires great authority, so in that way, it is harder to do. However, the teachers could not see whether Jesus could really pardon the paralytic’s sins against God. They could see that he healed the paralytic if the paralytic really got up from his mat and walked.

Consider the way that people in your language would ask such a question. If they do not use comparatives, you may need to express it in a different way. For example:

Is it easy for me to…? Or is easy for me to…?
-or-
Which is easy and which is hard…?

to say to a paralytic: The Greek words which the Berean Standard Bible translates as to say to a paralytic introduce a quote within a quote. Jesus was telling the teachers of the law what he had said to the paralytic. See the General Comment on 2:9a–b for an example of using indirect speech here.

paralytic: A paralytic is a person who cannot move some or all of his body. This particular paralytic could not walk. See the note on 2:3.

Your sins are forgiven: In 2:5 Jesus had already told the paralytic that his sins were forgiven. See the note on 2:5c.

2:9b

or to say: The phrase or to say introduces different words that Jesus could say to the paralytic. See the note on 2:9a.

‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’: This sentence is expressed as a command (or as three commands). If the man obeyed these commands, everyone would be able to see that Jesus had healed him.

mat: The mat refers to the thin mattress or stretcher on which the man was lying. See the note on 2:4c.

General Comment on 2:9a–b

This verse contains two quotes within a quote. Jesus was quoting something that he had said and something that he might say. In some languages it may be more natural to use indirect speech for these quotes. For example, the Contemporary English Version says:

Is it easier for me to tell this crippled man that his sins are forgiven or to tell him to get up and pick up his mat and go on home?

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