Mark 3

¹Jesus ^a entered the synagogue ^b again, and a man was there who had a shriveled ^c hand. ²In order to accuse ^d him, they were watching him closely ^e to see whether he would heal ^f him on the Sabbath. ^{g 3}He told the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand before us.” ⁴Then he said to them, “Is it lawful^h to do goodⁱ on the Sabbath or to do evil,^j to save life^k or to kill? ”^l But they were silent. ^{m 5}After looking around at them with anger, ⁿ he was grieved at the hardness ^o of their hearts and told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ^{p 6}Immediately the Pharisees ^q went out and started plotting ^r with the Herodians ^s against him, how they might kill ^t him.

Ministering to the Multitude

⁷Jesus ^u departed with his disciples to the sea, and a large crowd followed from Galilee, ^v and a large crowd followed from Judea, ^{w 8}Jerusalem, ^x Idumea, beyond the Jordan, ^y and around Tyre ^z and Sidon. ^aa The large crowd came to him because they heard about everything he was doing. ⁹Then he told his disciples to have a small boat ^ab ready for him, so that the crowd wouldn’t crush him. ¹⁰Since he had healed ^ac many, all who had diseases were pressing toward him to touch ^ad him. ¹¹Whenever the unclean ^ae spirits ^af saw him, they fell down ^ag before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God! ” ^{ah 12}And he would strongly warn ^ai them not to make him known. ^aj

The Twelve Apostles

¹³Jesus ^ak went up the mountain ^al and summoned those he wanted, and they came to him. ¹⁴He appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, ^am,^an to be with him, to send them out to preach, ^{ao 15}and to have authority to ^ap drive out demons. ¹⁶He appointed the Twelve: ^aq,^ar To Simon, ^as he gave the name Peter; ^{at 17}and to James ^au the son of Zebedee, ^av and to his brother John, ^aw he gave the name “Boanerges” (that is, “Sons of Thunder” ^ax); ¹⁸Andrew; ^ay Philip ^az and Bartholomew; Matthew ^ba and Thomas; ^bb James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, ^bc who also betrayed him.

A House Divided

²⁰Jesus entered a house, and the crowd gathered again so that they were not even able to eat. ^{bd 21}When his family ^be heard this, they set out to restrain him, because they said, “He’s out of his mind.” ^bf

²²The scribes ^bg who had come down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” ^bh and, “He drives out ^bi demons ^bj by the ruler ^bk of the demons.” ^bl

²³So he summoned ^bm them and spoke to them in parables: ^bn “How can Satan^bo drive out Satan?^{bp 24}If a kingdom^bq is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. ²⁶And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand but is finished. ²⁷But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his possessions unless he first ties up^br the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.

²⁸“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for all sins and whatever blasphemies^bs they utter. ²⁹But whoever blasphemes^bt against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness,^bu but is guilty^bv of an eternal sin”^bw,^bx #— # ³⁰because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” ^by

True Relationships

³¹His ^bz mother ^ca and his brothers ^cb came, and standing outside, they sent word to him and called him. ³²A crowd was sitting around him and told him, “Look, your mother, your brothers, ^cc and your sisters ^cd are outside asking for you.”

³³He replied to them, “Who are my mother and my brothers? ” ³⁴Looking at those sitting in a circle around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!^{ce 35}Whoever does the will of God^cf is my brother and sister and mother.”