Palsied man lower through the roof for Jesus to cure.
Man, they have been let go for you, those mistakes of yours,
We want our past mistakes to let go of us.
The word translated as "forgive" does not mean "forgive" in Greek. The verb is a common word that means "leave" or "let go." This verb is either passive, "are being let go" or the middle voice, "let go of themselves." The English translation seems to want it both ways. The tense here is something completed in the past, not the present tense.
The noun doesn't mean "sins, " and the verb doesn't mean "forgive." Our modern sense of sin, guilt, and forgiveness is not the sense of the Greek words used in the Gospel. See this article for more.
Man, thy (MW) sins(CW) are(WT) forgiven(WW) (MW) thee.
- MW - Missing Word -- The word "the/those" before "sins" is not shown in the English translation.
- CW - Confusing Word -- The "sin" does not capture the word's general meaning.
- WT -- Wrong Tense -- This verb is the past perfect tense, which requires a "have" before the verb.
- WW - Wrong Word -- The word translated as "forgive" should be "let go."
- MW - Missing Word -- The word "for" is not shown in the English translation.
Friend(WW), your (MW) sins(CW) are(WT) forgiven(WW) (MW).
- WW - Wrong Word -- The word translated as "friend" should be "man."
- MW - Missing Word -- The word "the/those" before "sins" is not shown in the English translation.
- CW - Confusing Word -- The "sin" does not capture the word's general meaning.
- WT -- Wrong Tense -- This verb is the past perfect tense, which requires a "have" before the verb.
- WW - Wrong Word -- The word translated as "forgive" should be "let go."
- MW - Missing Word -- The word "for" is not shown in the English translation.
Man, -- The Greek word for "man" means "man," "person" and "humanity" in the singular. In the plural, it means "men," "people," and "peoples." It is in the form of address (vocative).
thy -- -- The word translated as "your" is the genitive form of the singular, second-person pronoun, which is most commonly the possessive form. This pronoun follows the noun so "of yours."
missing "the/those" -- (MW) The untranslated word is the Greek definite article," the," which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," and "those"). See this article for more.
sins -- (CW) The word translated as "sins" means "missing the mark," "failure," "fault," and "error." Only in religious uses does it become "guilt" and "sin," having no sense of doing malicious evil in Greek. The best English translation is "mistake," "fault," or "failure" rather than what we commonly think of as the evils of "sin." See this article for more information and context.
missing "have" -- (WT) The helping vcrb, "have," is needed to show the past perfect tense of the verb.
are -- This helping verb "are" indicates that the verb is passive. Helping or auxiliary verbs are needed to translate the Greek verb forms into English. However, the tense is not the present but an action completed in the past, so this should be "been."
forgiven -- (WW) The word translated as "be forgiven" primarily means "to let go" or "to send away." This same word is translated as "leave", "forgive", "suffer," and "let" in the New Testament. With the word translated as "sin" it is translated as "forgive" even though it doesn't really mean that in Greek. Its form is that in which the subject is acted upon by itself. It is in the present tense so "are being let go by themselves".
missing "for" -- (MW) The untranslated word "for" comes from the dative case of the following word that requires the addition of a preposition in English. The most common is a "to" for the English indirect object. However, the translator can choose other prepositions: "with," "in," "of," "as," "by," "for," "at," or "on" depending on the context.
thee -- The word for "you" is the indirect object form of the singular, second-person pronoun in the form of an indirect object, which usually requires a preposition in English, like "to you."
Friend, -- (WW) The Greek word for "friend" means "man," "person" and "humanity" in the singular. In the plural, it means "men," "people," and "peoples." It is in the form of address (vocative).
your -- -- The word translated as "your" is the genitive form of the singular, second-person pronoun, which is most commonly the possessive form. This pronoun follows the noun so "of yours."
missing "the/those" -- (MW) The untranslated word is the Greek definite article," the," which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," and "those"). See this article for more.
sins -- (CW) The word translated as "sins" means "missing the mark," "failure," "fault," and "error." Only in religious uses does it become "guilt" and "sin," having no sense of doing malicious evil in Greek. The best English translation is "mistake," "fault," or "failure" rather than what we commonly think of as the evils of "sin." See this article for more information and context.
missing "have" -- (WT) The helping vcrb, "have," is needed to show the past perfect tense of the verb.
are -- This helping verb "are" indicates that the verb is passive. Helping or auxiliary verbs are needed to translate the Greek verb forms into English. However, the tense is not the present but an action completed in the past, so this should be "been."
forgiven -- (WW) The word translated as "be forgiven" primarily means "to let go" or "to send away." This same word is translated as "leave", "forgive", "suffer," and "let" in the New Testament. With the word translated as "sin" it is translated as "forgive" even though it doesn't really mean that in Greek. Its form is that in which the subject is acted upon by itself. It is in the present tense so "are being let go by themselves".
missing "for" -- (MW) The untranslated word "for you" is the indirect object form of the singular, second-person pronoun in the form of an indirect pronoun so "to you" or in this case, "for you."
Ἄνθρωπε, [209 verses] (noun sg masc voc) "Man" is anthropos, which is "man," and, in plural, "mankind." It also means "humanity" and that which is human and opposed to that which is animal or inanimate.
ἀφέωνταί [73 verses](verb 3rd pl perf ind mp) "Be forgiven" is aphiemi, which means "to let fall," "to send away," "give up," "hand over," "to let loose," "to get rid of," "to leave alone," "to pass by," "to permit," and "to send forth from oneself." -- The word translated as "forgive" primarily means "to let go" or "to send away." It has the sense of leaving something alone and letting it drop. This same word is usually translated as "leave," "forgive," "suffer," and "let" in the New Testament. See this article for more.
σοὶ [81 verses](pron 2nd sg dat) "You" is soi which is the singular, second-person pronoun, "you," in the form of an indirect pronoun.
αἱ[821 verses](article pl fem nom) Untranslated is the Greek definite article, hos, ("the"). When not preceding a noun, takes the meaning of "the one" or, in the plural, "the ones." Proper nouns do normally not take articles but they are needed when the noun ending cannot be changed to show the noun's role in the sentence as an object, indirect object, or genitive (possessive) form. However, the Greek article is very close to "this" so the purpose of an article like this can also be demonstrative. See this article. -
ἁμαρτίαι.[28 verses](noun pl fem nom) "Sins" is hamartia, which means "missing the mark," "failure," "fault," and "error." Only in religious uses does it become "guilt" and "sin." -- (CW) The word translated as "sins" means "missing the mark," "failure," "fault," and "error." Only in religious uses does it become "guilt" and "sin," having no sense of doing malicious evil in Greek. The best English translation is "mistake," "fault," or "failure" rather than what we commonly think of as the evils of "sin." See this article for more information and context. CW - Confusing Word -- The "sin" does not capture the word's general meaning.
σου” [144 verses](pron 2nd sg gen) "Thy" is sou is the genitive form of the second-person, singular pronoun that means "of you" and "your."
An interesting contrast of three different versions of this verse.
The tense here is something completed in the past, not the present tense. This is a change from the versions of this verb in the parallel verses in Matthew (Matthew 9:2) and Mark (Mark 2:5), which were the present tense.
It is interesting to compare this verse to the related versions in Matthew (Matthew 9:2) and Mark (Mark 2:5). The differences could mean Jesus said something like this three different times of that these are all variations on a theme, leaving us to guess which is the most accurate. Mark is the shortest. Both Matthew and Luke here have words not in the others. The Matthew version is longer, having a phrase in the beginning that is missing from the other two. This might indicate that the others are shortened versions of the original in Matthew.