Mark 2 — Clausal Layout (English)

independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecontentconditionaldashed = verbless / suspended

Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)

The paralytic through the roof — authority to forgive sins 2:1–12

vv. 1–5 — the packed house, the four bearers, and the word of forgiveness

And when he had entered Capernaum again after some days,participial — preposed circumstantial — πάλιν recalls 1:21; leans on ἠκούσθη

it was heardindependent — impersonal passive — the report goes round on its own

that he was at home.content — retained present — 'he is at home,' perhaps Peter's house

And many gathered together,independent — the crowd assembles — Mark's Galilee, always thronged

so that there was no longer room, not even at the door,purpose — ὥστε + infinitive — actual result (typed pur; no result key): the obstacle the four must beat

and he was speaking the word to them.independent — durative imperfect — 'the word,' Markan shorthand for the message

And they come,independent — historic present — the bearers arrive

bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.participial — manner participle — αἰρόμενον ὑπὸ τεσσάρων, the vivid detail of the four, only Mark

And being unable to bring him to him because of the crowd,participial — preposed causal participle — the crowd of v. 2 blocks them; leans on ἀπεστέγασαν

they removed the roofindependent — ἀποστεγάζω — they unroof the flat packed-earth roof

where he was,relative — local relative — directly above Jesus

and having dug through,participial — preposed aorist participle — gouging the opening; leans on χαλῶσι

they lower the palletindependent — historic present — the lowering made vivid; κράβαττος, the poor man's bedroll

on which the paralytic was lying.relative — the man's helpless posture — durative imperfect

And Jesus, seeing their faith,participial — preposed circumstantial — the faith is visible in the digging; leans on λέγει

says to the paralytic:independent — historic present — the speech-frame

'Child, your sins are forgiven.'content — divine passive with affectionate τέκνον — pardon before cure; the offense begins

vv. 6–9 — the scribes' silent charge and the easier/harder question

But some of the scribes were sitting thereindependent — δέ marks the antagonists — periphrastic imperfect, the settled watchers

and reasoning in their hearts:participial — second periphrastic participle — the charge stays unspoken

'Why does this man speak thus?content — the inward question — contemptuous οὗτος, 'this fellow'

He blasphemes!content — asyndetic verdict — the capital charge that returns at the trial (14:64)

Who can forgive sins but God alone?'content — εἷς ὁ θεός — the Shema's premise: sound monotheism, wrong christology

And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spiritparticipial — preposed circumstantial — εὐθύς, the instant reading of hearts; leans on λέγει

that they were reasoning thus within themselves,content — content of the perception — he answers what was never voiced

says to them:independent — historic present — the counter-challenge

'Why do you reason these things in your hearts?content — καρδίαις echoes v. 6 word for word — their secret quoted back

Which is easier —content — the rabbinic dilemma — unverifiable pardon against testable command

to say to the paralytic,content — first epexegetic infinitive — the easy, invisible word

'Your sins are forgiven,'content — v. 5 quoted verbatim inside the question

or to say,content — the second alternative

'Rise, take up your pallet, and walk'?content — the hard, testable word — three commands anyone can verify

vv. 10–12 — the Son of Man's authority demonstrated

'But so that you may knowpurpose — the famous anacoluthon — the purpose clause never gets its governing verb; still Jesus' speech, hung under λέγει (v. 8)

that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins' —content — first Son-of-Man saying in Mark — ἐξουσία fronted, the cycle's keyword; Dan 7:13 behind the title

he says to the paralytic —independent — the narrator's resumption at the dash — historic present; the healing completes the broken sentence

'To you I say:content — emphatic fronted σοί — the harder word of v. 9 now performed

rise, take up your pallet, and go to your house.'content — three commands, asyndetic ἔγειρε ἆρον — up, out, home

And he rose,independent — instant compliance — ἐγείρω, the resurrection verb in miniature

and immediately, taking up the pallet,participial — preposed aorist participle — what carried him he now carries; leans on ἐξῆλθεν

he went out before them all,independent — the cure is public — ἔμπροσθεν πάντων, every eye a witness

so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying:purpose — ὥστε + infinitive — actual result (typed pur; no result key): the Markan choral close, with recitative ὅτι

'We never saw anything like this!'content — fronted οὕτως — the crowd's verdict seals the first controversy

The call of Levi and the sinners' table 2:13–17

vv. 13–14 — Levi called from the toll booth

And he went out again beside the sea;independent — πάλιν — the recurring lakeside scene

and all the crowd kept coming to him,independent — iterative imperfect — the stream continues; hyperbolic πᾶς

and he was teaching them.independent — durative imperfect — teaching as the backdrop for the call

And passing by,participial — preposed circumstantial — παράγων as at 1:16; leans on εἶδεν

he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth,independent — the seeing that initiates each call — Levi caught mid-trade (Matthew in Matt 9:9)

and he says to him:independent — historic present — the speech-frame

'Follow me.'content — the two-word call — ἀκολουθέω, the technical verb of discipleship

And rising,participial — preposed aorist participle — the break from the booth; leans on ἠκολούθησεν

he followed him.independent — the call-form of 1:16–20 repeated — one verb answers

vv. 15–17 — tax collectors and sinners at table; the physician proverb

And it happens that he reclines at table in his house,independent — historic present γίνεται with subject infinitive — αὐτοῦ ambiguous: Levi's house or Jesus'

and many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples;independent — συνανάκειμαι — shared table is shared fellowship: the scandal itself

for there were many,cause — narrator's γάρ-aside — the size of the following explained

and they were following him.cause — coordinate within the aside — the outcasts already ἀκολουθοῦντες, Levi's verb

And the scribes of the Pharisees, seeingparticipial — preposed circumstantial — leans on ἔλεγον; 'scribes of the Pharisees,' the harder reading kept over 'scribes and Pharisees'

that he was eating with the sinners and tax collectors,content — content of the seeing — the offense observed

said to his disciples:independent — iterative imperfect — the complaint pressed on the disciples, not on Jesus

'Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?'content — interrogative ὅτι (= 'why?'; some editions read τί) — the reproachful question

And Jesus, hearing it,participial — preposed circumstantial — he overhears what was said behind him; leans on λέγει

says to them:independent — historic present with recitative ὅτι

'Those who are strong have no need of a physician,content — the physician proverb — gnomic present

but those who are sick.content — elliptical antithesis — the verb supplied from the proverb

I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'content — the ἦλθον mission-saying — δικαίους with an ironic edge; Byzantine adds 'to repentance'

The question about fasting — bridegroom, patch, and wineskins 2:18–22

vv. 18–20 — the bridegroom question and the days that will come

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting.independent — periphrastic imperfect — the backdrop of pious practice

And they comeindependent — historic present — the questioners arrive

and say to him:independent — historic present — the speech-frame

'Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,content — the conspicuous contrast — two pious camps on one side

but your disciples do not fast?'content — emphatic σοί — 'your own disciples'; the master answers for them

And Jesus said to them:independent — the reply — aorist frame for the extended answer

'Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?content — μή expects 'no' — 'sons of the bridechamber,' Semitic idiom; the embedded ἐν ᾧ temporal kept in line

As long as they have the bridegroom with them,conditional — temporal ὅσον χρόνον (typed cnd; no temporal key) — leans forward on the refusal below

they cannot fast.content — the answer restated flatly — feast, not fast, while he is present

But days will comecontent — prophetic-sounding formula — the turn toward the passion

when the bridegroom is taken away from them,conditional — temporal ὅταν (typed cnd; no temporal key) — ἀπαρθῇ, the ominous passive: Mark's first veiled passion-hint

and then they will fast in that day.content — τότε answering ὅταν — mourning will fit the bridegroom's absence

vv. 21–22 — the οὐδείς-pair: unshrunk cloth and new wine

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment;content — first οὐδείς-parable — asyndeton opens the paired images; gnomic present

otherwise —conditional — elliptical protasis ('but if not') — leans forward on αἴρει

the patch tears away from it, the new from the old,content — the unshrunk piece shrinks and pulls — τὸ καινὸν τοῦ παλαιοῦ, new from old

and a worse tear results.content — σχίσμα — the mend worsens the rent

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins;content — the companion οὐδείς-parable — fermenting νέος wine, brittle old skins

otherwise —conditional — elliptical protasis again — leans forward on ῥήξει

the wine will burst the skins,content — predictive future — fermentation pressure against stiff leather

and the wine is destroyed, and the skins too;content — the double loss — wine and vessel perish together

but new wine into fresh wineskins.'content — verbless close — 'must be put' supplied (some witnesses add βλητέον); καινός, the new vessel for the new age

Grainfields on the sabbath — lord even of the sabbath 2:23–28

vv. 23–24 — the plucking and the charge

And it happened that he was passing through the grainfields on the sabbath,independent — Semitic ἐγένετο-frame with subject infinitive — the final controversy opens

and his disciples began to make their way,independent — ὁδὸν ποιεῖν — the idiom of journeying along

plucking the heads of grain.participial — manner participle, following its verb — permitted gleaning (Deut 23:25), but 'reaping' by strict sabbath halakhah

And the Pharisees said to him:independent — inceptive imperfect — the watchers speak

'Look, why are they doing on the sabbathcontent — Ἴδε, the frozen imperative — the charge aimed at the master through his disciples

what is not lawful?'relative — ἔξεστιν — the legal keyword of the dispute, answered by the same word in v. 26

vv. 25–26 — David's precedent: the showbread at Nob

And he says to them:independent — historic present — the counter-question begins

'Have you never readcontent — the rabbinic riposte — their own Scripture turned on them

what David didcontent — indirect question — 1 Sam 21:1–6, the showbread at Nob

when he was in need and was hungry, he and those with him —conditional — temporal ὅτε (typed cnd; no temporal key) — χρεία, the necessity that overrides

how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest,content — ἐπὶ Ἀβιαθὰρ ἀρχιερέως — the famous crux: 1 Sam 21 names Ahimelech, Abiathar's father; construals vary ('in the days/section of Abiathar'), D W and some Latins omit

and ate the bread of the Presence,content — coordinate indirect question — the showbread (Lev 24:5–9)

which it is not lawful to eat except for the priests,relative — ἔξεστιν again — the Pharisees' own keyword: the law itself yielded to need

and gave it also to those who were with him?'content — David's men share as the disciples do — the parallel completed

vv. 27–28 — the sabbath maxim and the Son of Man's lordship

And he said to them:independent — imperfect ἔλεγεν — the weighty added word

'The sabbath was made for man,content — the aphorism — the sabbath as creation's gift; only Mark preserves it

and not man for the sabbath;content — chiastic reversal — ἐγένετο supplied; verbless second limb

so that the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.'content — inferential ὥστε + indicative — the christological clinch; some derive a generic 'son of man = humankind' from v. 27, but Mark means the title, as at v. 10, closing the cycle on ἐξουσία

Analysis. Mark 2 gathers the first four Galilean conflict-stories, and the layout shows the cycle's common anatomy: the flush-left καί-column of chapter 1 keeps drumming (historic presents flagged as they land — ἔρχονται and χαλῶσι carrying the paralytic in, λέγει again and again on Jesus' ripostes, γίνεται at Levi's table), while each controversy indents the same way — an objection hanging blue (cnt) under its verb of saying or thinking (the scribes' inward τί οὗτος οὕτως λαλεῖ; under διαλογιζόμενοι, the Ὅτι-question pressed on the disciples under ἔλεγον, the fasting question under λέγουσιν, the Ἴδε-charge under ἔλεγον), answered by a longer blue chain under Jesus' λέγει or εἶπεν that ends in a pronouncement. The preposed circumstantial participles lean forward anchor-less as in chapter 1 (μὴ δυνάμενοι and ἐξορύξαντες before the roof is stripped, ἰδὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς τὴν πίστιν αὐτῶν before the absolution, παράγων before Levi's call, ἀναστάς before he follows), and the protasis-like lines inside quoted speech — ὅσον χρόνον in v. 19, the twin elliptical εἰ δὲ μή of the patch and wineskins — lean one step above their apodoses. Cruxes: v. 10 is the chapter's famous anacoluthon — ἵνα δὲ εἰδῆτε never reaches its governing verb; the narrator breaks in at the dash with λέγει τῷ παραλυτικῷ and the healing itself completes the thought, so the layout hangs the suspended purpose-clause in the quoted speech (marked as broken) and lets the resumption sit flush-left. ἐπὶ Ἀβιαθὰρ ἀρχιερέως in v. 26 stands where 1 Sam 21 names Ahimelech, Abiathar's father — the construals ('in the days/section of Abiathar') and the omission in D W and some Latins witness the difficulty; the reading is kept and named, not solved. The two Son-of-Man sayings bracket the chapter (vv. 10, 28), and v. 28's inferential ὥστε rides on v. 27's aphorism — if the Sabbath was made for ὁ ἄνθρωπος, an underlying generic 'son of man = humankind' has been argued; the layout reads the title christologically, as Mark does, while the tags leave the tradition-history open. Lesser variants pass in the tags: 'the scribes of the Pharisees' kept at v. 16, the Byzantine εἰς μετάνοιαν declined at v. 17, and the elliptical close of v. 22 (some witnesses supply βλητέον) kept verbless, like the second limb of v. 27.