Matthew 9:5

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Which is easier, to say,‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say,‘Stand up and walk’?

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Τί γάρ ἐστιν εὐκοπώτερον, εἰπεῖν, Ἀφέωνταί σοι αἱ ἁμαρτίαι· ἢ εἰπεῖν, Ἔγειραι, καὶ περιπάτει;

Transliteration

For what estin eukopōteron, to eipein, Apheōntai to you the hamartiai; or to eipein, Egeirai, and peripatei?

Grammar Details

• *estin*: present indicative, 3rd person singular - is
• *eukopōteron*: comparative adjective, nominative, neuter, singular - easier
• *eipein*: aorist active infinitive - to say/speak
• *Apheōntai*: perfect passive indicative, 3rd person plural - have been forgiven
• *hamartiai*: nominative, feminine, plural - sins
• *Egeirai*: aorist middle imperative, 2nd person singular - rise up
• *peripatei*: present active imperative, 2nd person singular - walk/walk around

Word Meanings

• *eukopōteron*: easier/less difficult
• *Apheōntai*: have been forgiven/are forgiven/are sent away
• *Egeirai*: rise up/get up/stand up
• *peripatei*: walk/walk around/go about

Referenced Verses

• John 5:8-9 : 8 Jesus said to him,“Stand up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 Immediately the man was healed, and he picked up his mat and started walking.(Now that day was a Sabbath.) 10 So the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed,“It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat.” 11 But he answered them,“The man who made me well said to me,‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” 12 They asked him,“Who is the man who said to you,‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” 13 But the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped out, since there was a crowd in that place. 14 After this Jesus found him at the temple and said to him,“Look, you have become well. Don’t sin any more, lest anything worse happen to you.”
• Mark 2:9-9 : 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic,‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say,‘Stand up, take your stretcher, and walk’? 10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”– he said to the paralytic– 11 “I tell you, stand up, take your stretcher, and go home.” 12 And immediately the man 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!”
• Isa 35:5-6 : 5 Then blind eyes will open, deaf ears will hear. 6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, the mute tongue will shout for joy; for water will burst forth in the wilderness, streams in the arid rift valley.
• Acts 3:16 : 16 And on the basis of faith in Jesus’ name, his very name has made this man– whom you see and know– strong. The faith that is through Jesus has given him this complete health in the presence of you all.
• Luke 5:23-25 : 23 Which is easier, to say,‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say,‘Stand up and walk’? 24 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”– he said to the paralyzed man–“I tell you, stand up, take your stretcher and go home.” 25 Immediately he stood up before them, picked up the stretcher he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God.
• John 5:17-18 : 17 So he told them,“My Father is working until now, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason the Jewish leaders were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God.
• Acts 3:6-9 : 6 But Peter said,“I have no silver or gold, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, stand up and walk!” 7 Then Peter took hold of him by the right hand and raised him up, and at once the man’s feet and ankles were made strong. 8 He jumped up, stood and began walking around, and he entered the temple courts with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 All the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and they recognized him as the man who used to sit and ask for donations at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with astonishment and amazement at what had happened to him. 11 Peter Addresses the Crowd While the man was hanging on to Peter and John, all the people, completely astounded, ran together to them in the covered walkway called Solomon’s Portico.
• Acts 4:9-9 : 9 if we are being examined today for a good deed done to a sick man– by what means this man was healed– 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands before you healthy.
• Acts 14:8-9 : 8 Paul and Barnabas at Lystra In Lystra sat a man who could not use his feet, lame from birth, who had never walked. 9 This man was listening to Paul as he was speaking. When Paul stared intently at him and saw he had faith to be healed, 10 he said with a loud voice,“Stand upright on your feet.” And the man leaped up and began walking. 11 So when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language,“The gods have come down to us in human form!”
• Acts 9:34 : 34 Peter said to him,“Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Get up and make your own bed!” And immediately he got up.