Mark 2:9

2:9 Which is easier, ¹  to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up, take your stretcher, and walk’?

Mark 2:12

2:12 And immediately the man ²  stood up, took his stretcher, and went out in front of them all. They were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Mark 4:27

4:27 He goes to sleep and gets up, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.

Mark 5:41

5:41 Then, gently taking the child by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up.”

Mark 10:49

10:49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So ³  they called the blind man and said to him, “Have courage! Get up! He is calling you.”

Mark 13:8

13:8 For nation will rise up in arms ⁴  against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines. ⁵  These are but the beginning of birth pains.

¹ sn Which is easier is a reflective kind of question. On the one hand to declare sins are forgiven is easier, since one does not need to see it, unlike telling a paralyzed person to walk. On the other hand, it is harder, because for it to be true one must possess the authority to forgive the sin.

² tn Grk “he”; the referent (the man who was healed) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

⁴ tn For the translation “rise up in arms” see L&N 55.2.

⁵ sn See Isa 5:13-14; 13:6-16; Hag 2:6-7; Zech 14:4.