Charles Ellicott Commentary Mark 2:4

"And when they could not come nigh unto him for the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed whereon the sick of the palsy lay." — Mark 2:4 (ASV)

They uncovered the roof . . . when they had broken it up.—The strong expressions of the injury done to the roof are peculiar to Mark. Luke gives, “through the tiles.”

They let down the bed.—Mark uses a different word from Matthew, the Greek form of the Latin word grabatus, the pallet or camp-bed used by the poor. The same word appears in John 5:8-10, and in Acts 5:15; Acts 9:33, but not at all in Matthew or Luke.