Mark 3

¹Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. ²And they watched him, to see whether he would heal him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. ³And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come here.” ⁴And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. ⁵And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ⁶The Pharisees went out, and immediately held counsel with the Heroʹdi-ans against him, how to destroy him.

⁷Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed; also from Judea ⁸and Jerusalem and Idumeʹa and from beyond the Jordan and from about Tyre and Sidon a great multitude, hearing all that he did, came to him. ⁹And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they should crush him; ¹⁰for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. ¹¹And whenever the unclean spirits beheld him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” ¹²And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

¹³And he went up on the mountain, and called to him those whom he desired; and they came to him. ¹⁴And he appointed twelve, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach ¹⁵and have authority to cast out demons: ¹⁶Simon whom he surnamed Peter; ¹⁷James the son of Zebʹedee and John the brother of James, whom he surnamed Bo-anerʹges, that is, sons of thunder; ¹⁸Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Then he went home; ²⁰and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. ²¹And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for people were saying, “He is beside himself.” ²²And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Be-elʹzebul, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” ²³And he called them to him, and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. ²⁷But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he may plunder his house.

²⁸“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; ²⁹but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—³⁰for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

³¹And his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him. ³²And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you.” ³³And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” ³⁴And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.”