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Then Shimon went in to see Perpetua, and Yeshua walked with him. They saw the woman lying sick  with fever, and Yeshua  took her hand. Within a few  moments  she rose  from  the  bed and  her thoughts grew clear. Having laid in bed for three days she was keen to move about, so  together with Concordia she  prepared a supper for Yeshua and his disciples.

Overnight the word of Yeshua's deed spread throughout Capernaum, such that  by first  light  the  entire  city, it  seemed,  was gathered outside of  the house  of  Shimon. And four men  with paralysis were borne toward the house on litters, but they could not enter by reason of the crowd. The men with palsy were lifted by ropes to the roof of adjoining houses and  taken directly to the house of Shimon. A section of the roof overhead was removed as Yeshua looked up  in wonder and  amused satisfaction  as the stricken men were lowered to the floor within.

There also appeared above the hole in the roof the faces of men Yeshua recognized from Tiberias, some of the same partisans who took Yohanan into custody on the orders of Herod Antipater. And Yeshua said to them, "Hail to you, O blameless  ones. What have you come to see?"

One of them said,  "We know Yohanan  blasphemed God  by telling those who came to him their  sins were forgiven. We would see if his  successor would  persist in  this blasphemy.  Only God  can forgive  the sins  of  a  man if  he  confesses  them and  makes the required temple sacrifice according to the Law of Moshe."

Yeshua gestured at the four men lying on cots before him, all of them mute and none of  them able  to make any  movements beyond involuntary trembling. "Do you imagine  these unfortunate  men have come to this state through their own sins?"

"We know it," replied the Herodian.

Yeshua said, "I tell you God has already forgiven these men."

"Impossible! They have made no sacrifice with the priests!"

"But their kinsmen  have made  intercession with  God on  their behalf. Have you ever seen such hope and trust?"

The Herodian shouted down through the hole, "The one who sins is the one who shall die!"

"Ah, the prophet Yehezkel. Hear the words of  the prophet Hosea in reply: 'For  I desire mercy and not  sacrifice.'"