√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
√ ἰδού — used as imperative lo!VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
ἰδού: lo, behold Parsed here as an aorist imperative active, second singular, frozen into an interjection. It is Matthew's narrative jolt, not a fresh command.
προσέφερονprosepheron[some men] broughtG4374 √ προσφέρω — to bear towards, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
προσφέρω: to bear towards, to offer Imperfect indicative active, third plural, subject unnamed. Matthew omits the roof entirely; Pulpit observes that this omission is costly, since the difficulty of the approach "alone accounts for the special commendation of their faith." The imperfect is the only trace left in Matthew of a labour that took four men and a dismantled ceiling.
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
παραλυτικὸνparalytikona paralyticG3885 √ παραλυτικός — as if dissolved, iAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
βεβλημένονbeblēmenonlyingG906 √ βάλλω — to throw (in various applications, more or less violent or intense)VerbPerfect Participle Middle or PassiveAccusative Masculine Singular
βάλλω: to throw, to cast Perfect participle, middle or passive, accusative masculine singular. The perfect fixes a past action with a standing result: he was thrown down and is still down. Against that stationary perfect the unit will set two active imperatives in v. 6, ἆρον and ὕπαγε. The whole miracle is the reversal of one participle.
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
√ κλίνη — a couch (for sleep, sickness, sitting or eating)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
κλίνη: a couch for sleep, sickness, sitting or eating Genitive feminine singular after ἐπί. Barnes and Cambridge both reduce the grand English "bed" to what it was, a bolster or mat rolled up in the morning; the rarity of the lexeme (9 verses) is part of what ties this scene lexically to Mark 2 and Luke 5.
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
ὁράω: to see, by extension to attend to Aorist active participle. The seeing is the hinge: what Jesus sees is not the paralysis but the faith, and Poole says plainly that "he saw it in their hearts, for the inward principles and habits are not visible to us," and also "in the fruits, their endeavouring to lay him before Christ."
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
αὐτῶν: of them Genitive masculine plural. The pronoun is the whole dispute: whose faith? Grammatically it can only look back to the unnamed plural subject of προσέφερον, the bringers, since the paralytic stands in this sentence as their accusative object and is addressed separately in the dative at word 17. That is the strongest argument for Henry's narrower reading, and none of the commentators states it. It is not decisive, because a plural pronoun may gather in the man carried as a participant in the act, which is what Cambridge, Benson, Poole, Gill and Pulpit each assume on other grounds.
√ πίστις — persuasion, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
πίστις: persuasion, conviction, faith Accusative feminine singular. The commentators divide, and the division is worth keeping. Cambridge: "The faith of those who brought him, as well as his own." Benson and Poole say both, the sick man's and the bearers'. Gill grants the bearers first and then adds that Christ "took notice not only of their faith, but of the sick man's too." Pulpit argues it from the sequel, the obedience the man afterwards shows. Henry, by contrast, praises only "the faith of the friends of the paralytic." Matthew's αὐτῶν does not decide the case; the readings are inferences, and honest ones.
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
παραλυτικῷparalytikōparalyticG3885 √ παραλυτικός — as if dissolved, iAdjectiveDative Masculine Singular
ΘάρσειTharseiTake courageG2293 √ θαρσέω — to have courageVerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
θαρσέω: to have courage Present imperative active, second singular. A command to a man who cannot move a limb, and the first word he hears. Pulpit maps the order of the whole assurance: "Courage, sympathy, forgiveness, and, only after all else, recalling individual sins."
√ τέκνον — a child (as produced)NounVocative Neuter Singular
τέκνον: a child as produced Vocative neuter singular. Cambridge reports that Bengel inferred from it that the sufferer was a young man; Ellicott allows either comparative youth or "a fatherly tone of love and pity." Gill goes further and hears adoption in it, "as considering him in the grace of adoption." That is Gill's theology reading a term of address, and should be received as such.
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Plural
ἁμαρτίαιhamartiaisinsG266 √ ἁμαρτία — a sin (properly abstract)NounNominative Feminine Plural
ἁμαρτία: a sin, properly abstract Nominative feminine plural, the subject of the verb. Plural and definite: not sinfulness in general but his sins, itemised.
ἀφίενταίaphientaiare forgivenG863 √ ἀφίημι — an intensive form of , to go)VerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Plural
ἀφίημι: to send away, to release, to forgive Present indicative middle or passive, third plural. The form leaves the forgiver unnamed, and the scribes correctly supply God. Note that the released object is the sins, not the man: in Greek it is the debts that are dismissed, and the man is simply the one they leave.