Mark 3

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

11He 2entered a synagogue again; and a man was there whose hand was withered. 2And 3they were watching Him 4closely to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, 5so that they might accuse Him. 3He said to the man with the withered hand, “6Get up and come forward!” 4And He said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. 5After 7looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6The Pharisees went out and immediately began 8conspiring with the 9Herodians against Him, as to how they might put Him to death.

710Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and 11a large multitude from Galilee followed, and also from Judea, 8and from Jerusalem, and from 12Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of 13Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard about everything that He was doing and came to Him. 914And He told His disciples to see that a boat would be ready for Him because of the 15masses, so that they would not crowd Him; 10for He had 16healed many, with the result that all those who had 17diseases pushed in around Him in order to 18touch Him. 11And whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are 19the Son of God!” 12And He 20strongly warned them not to 21reveal who He was.

The Twelve Are Chosen

13And He went up on 22the mountain and 23summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. 14And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, 15and to have authority to cast out the demons. 16And He appointed the twelve: 24Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter), 1725James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of 26James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”); 18and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, 27James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, and Simon the 28Zealot; 19and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

20And He came 2930home, and the 31crowd gathered again, 32to such an extent that they could not even eat 33a meal. 21And when 34His own 35people heard about this, they came out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “36He has lost His senses.” 22The scribes who came down 37from Jerusalem were saying, “He 38is possessed by 3940Beelzebul,” and “41He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” 2342And so He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in 43parables: “How can 44Satan cast out Satan? 24And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26And if 45Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but 46he is finished! 2747But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

28“48Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons and daughters of men, and whatever blasphemies they commit; 29but 49whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”-- 30because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

3150Then His mother and His brothers came, and while standing outside they sent word to Him, calling for Him. 32And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” 33Answering them, He said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” 34And looking around at those who were sitting around Him, He said, “51Here are My mother and My brothers! 35For whoever 52does the will of God, this is My brother, and sister, and mother.”