Mark 3

¹And he entered a synagogue again, and there was a man there who had a withered hand. ²They were watching him closely to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might bring charges against him. ³And he says to the man with the withered hand, "Stand up and come to the center." ⁴And he says to them, "Is it permitted on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to kill?" But they kept silent. ⁵And looking around at them with anger, grieved at the hardness of their hearts, he says to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

⁶Going out, the Pharisees immediately began plotting with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

⁷Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd from Galilee followed. And from Judea ⁸and from Jerusalem and from Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon—a great crowd, hearing all he was doing, came to him. ⁹And he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him because of the crowd, so they would not crush him. ¹⁰For he had healed many, so that all who had afflictions were pressing upon him to touch him. ¹¹And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they would fall down before him and cry out, "You are the Son of God!" ¹²And he sternly warned them many times not to make him known.

¹³And he goes up the mountain and summons those he himself wanted, and they came to him. ¹⁴And he appointed twelve, so that they might be with him and so that he might send them out to proclaim ¹⁵and to have authority to cast out demons. ¹⁶He appointed the Twelve: to Simon he gave the name Peter; ¹⁷and James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James—to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder; ¹⁸and Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas and James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus and Simon the Zealot ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who also handed him over.

²⁰And he comes home, and the crowd gathers again, so that they were not even able to eat a meal. ²¹When his family heard this, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, "He has lost his mind."

²²And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, "He has Beelzebul," and "By the ruler of the demons he casts out demons." ²³And summoning them, he spoke to them in comparisons: "How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵And if a household is divided against itself, that household will not be able to stand. ²⁶And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand—his end has come. ²⁷But no one can enter the strong man's house and plunder his possessions unless he first binds the strong man; then he can plunder his house.

²⁸"Truly I tell 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"— ³⁰because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

³¹And his mother and his brothers come, and standing outside they sent word to him, calling for him. ³²A crowd was sitting around him, and they say to him, "Look, your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you." ³³And answering them he says, "Who is my mother and who are my brothers?" ³⁴And looking around at those seated in a circle around him, he says, "Look—my mother and my brothers! ³⁵For whoever does the will of God, this one is my brother and sister and mother."