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 3:28

3:28 I tell you the truth, ²  people will be forgiven for all sins, even all the blasphemies they utter. ³ 

Mark 4:7

4:7 Other seed fell among the thorns, ⁴  and they grew up and choked it, ⁵  and it did not produce grain.

Mark 14:49

14:49 Day after day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, yet ⁶  you did not arrest me. But this has happened so that ⁷  the scriptures would be fulfilled.”

[2:9]  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.

[3:28]  ² tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[3:28]  ³ tn Grk “all the sins and blasphemies they may speak will be forgiven the sons of men.”

[4:7]  ³ sn Palestinian weeds like these thorns could grow up to six feet in height and have a major root system.

[4:7]  ⁴ sn That is, crowded out the good plants.

[14:49]  ⁴ tn Grk “and”; καί (kai) is elastic enough to be used contrastively on occasion, as here.

[14:49]  ⁵ tn Grk “But so that”; the verb “has happened” is implied.