Jesus Heals a Man with a Paralyzed Hand(A)
3 Jesus[a] went into the synagogue again, and a man with a paralyzed hand was there. 2 The people[b] watched Jesus[c] closely to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath,[d] intending to accuse him of doing something wrong. 3 He told the man with the paralyzed hand, “Come forward.”[e] 4 Then he asked them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do evil on Sabbath days,[f] to save a life or to destroy it?” But they remained silent.
5 Jesus[g] looked around at them in anger, deeply hurt because of their hard hearts. Then he told the man, “Hold out your hand.” The man[h] held it out, and his hand was restored to health. 6 Immediately the Pharisees and Herodians[i] went out and began to plot how to kill him.
Jesus Encounters a Large Crowd
7 So Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea. A large crowd from Galilee, Judea, 8 Jerusalem, Idumea, from across the Jordan, and from the region around Tyre and Sidon followed him. They came to him because they kept hearing about everything he was doing. 9 Jesus[j] told his disciples to have a boat ready for him so that the crowd wouldn’t crush him, 10 because he had healed so many people that everyone who had diseases kept crowding up against him in order to touch him. 11 Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they would fall down in front of him and scream, “You are the Son of God!” 12 But he sternly ordered them again and again not to tell people who he was.
Jesus Appoints Twelve Apostles(B)
13 Then Jesus[k] went up on a hillside and called to himself those whom he had decided on, and they approached him. 14 He appointed the Twelve,[l] whom he called apostles, to accompany him, to be sent out to preach, 15 and to have the authority to drive out demons. 16 He appointed the Twelve:[m] Simon (whom he named Peter), 17 Zebedee’s sons James and his brother John (whom he named Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder), 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus,[n] Simon the Cananaean,[o] 19 and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
Jesus is Accused of Working with Beelzebul(C)
20 Then he went home. Such a large crowd gathered again that Jesus and his disciples[p] couldn’t even eat. 21 When his family heard about it, they went to restrain him, because they kept saying, “He’s out of his mind!”
22 The scribes who had come down from Jerusalem kept repeating, “He has Beelzebul,” and, “He drives out demons by the ruler of demons.”
23 So Jesus[q] called them together and began to speak to them in parables. “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a household is divided against itself, that household won’t stand. 26 So if Satan rebels against himself and is divided, he cannot stand. Indeed, his end has come. 27 No one can go into a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions without first tying up the strong man. Then he can ransack his house. 28 I tell all of you[r] with certainty, people will be forgiven their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter.[s] 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven, but is guilty of eternal sin.” 30 …because they had been saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
The True Family of Jesus(D)
31 Then his mother and his brothers arrived. Milling around outside, they sent for him, continuously summoning him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him. They told him, “Look! Your mother and your brothers[t] are outside asking for you.”
33 He answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 Then looking at the people sitting around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
Footnotes
- Mark 3:1 Lit. He
- Mark 3:2 Lit. They
- Mark 3:2 Lit. him
- Mark 3:2 Lit. Sabbaths
- Mark 3:3 Lit. into the middle
- Mark 3:4 Lit. on the Sabbaths
- Mark 3:5 Lit. He
- Mark 3:5 Lit. He
- Mark 3:6 I.e. Royal party sympathizers
- Mark 3:9 Lit. He
- Mark 3:13 Lit. he
- Mark 3:14 Or appointed twelve
- Mark 3:16 Other mss. lack He appointed the Twelve
- Mark 3:18 Other mss. read Lebbaeus
- Mark 3:18 Cananaean is Aram. for Zealot.
- Mark 3:20 Lit. so that they
- Mark 3:23 Lit. he
- Mark 3:28 The Gk. pronoun you is pl.
- Mark 3:28 Lit. they blaspheme
- Mark 3:32 Other mss. read your brothers and sisters