Mark 3

1 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there who had his hand withered.2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.3 And he saith unto the man that had his hand withered, Stand forth.4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful on the sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? to save a life, or to kill? But they held their peace.5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their heart, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it forth; and his hand was restored.6 And the Pharisees went out, and straightway with the Herodians took counsel against him, how they might destroy him.7 And Jesus with his disciples withdrew to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and from Judaea,8 and from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and beyond the Jordan, and about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing what great things he did, came unto him.9 And he spake to his disciples, that a little boat should wait on him because of the crowd, lest they should throng him:10 for he had healed many; insomuch that as many as had plagues pressed upon him that they might touch him.11 And the unclean spirits, whensoever they beheld him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.12 And he charged them much that they should not make him known.13 And he goeth up into the mountain, and calleth unto him whom he himself would; and they went unto him.14 And he appointed twelve, that they might be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach,15 and to have authority to cast out demons:16 and Simon he surnamed Peter;17 and James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and them he surnamed Boanerges, which is, Sons of thunder:18 and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean,19 and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. And he cometh into a house.20 And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.21 And when his friends heard it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.22 And the scribes that came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and, By the prince of the demons casteth he out the demons.23 And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.26 And if Satan hath risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.27 But no one can enter into the house of the strong man, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.28 Verily I say unto you, All their sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and their blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:29 but whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin:30 because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.31 And there come his mother and his brethren; and, standing without, they sent unto him, calling him.32 And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.33 And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren?34 And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren!35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

Mark 3

The Man with a Paralysed Hand

(Mt 12.9–14; Lk 6.6–11)

1 Then Jesus went back to the synagogue, where there was a man who had a paralysed hand. 2 Some people were there who wanted to accuse Jesus of doing wrong; so they watched him closely to see whether he would heal the man on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man, “Come up here to the front.”

4 Then he asked the people, “What does our Law allow us to do on the Sabbath? To help or to harm? To save someone's life or to destroy it?”
But they did not say a thing. 5 Jesus was angry as he looked round at them, but at the same time he felt sorry for them, because they were so stubborn and wrong. Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and it became well again.

6 So the Pharisees left the synagogue and met at once with some members of Herod's party, and they made plans to kill Jesus.

A Crowd by the Lake

11 And whenever the people who had evil spirits in them saw him, they would fall down before him and scream, “You are the Son of God!”

12 Jesus sternly ordered the evil spirits not to tell anyone who he was.

Jesus Chooses the Twelve Apostles

(Mt 10.1–4; Lk 6.12–16)

15 and you will have authority to drive out demons.”
16 These are the twelve he chose: Simon (Jesus gave him the name Peter); 17 James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee (Jesus gave them the name Boanerges, which means “Men of Thunder”); 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Patriot,

19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus.

Jesus and Beelzebul

(Mt 12.22–32; Lk 11.14–23; 12.10)

21 When his family heard about it, they set out to take charge of him, because people were saying, “He's gone mad!”

22 Some teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem were saying, “He has Beelzebul in him! It is the chief of the demons who gives him the power to drive them out.”t
23 So Jesus called them to him and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a country divides itself into groups which fight each other, that country will fall apart. 25 If a family divides itself into groups which fight each other, that family will fall apart.

26 So if Satan's kingdom divides into groups, it cannot last, but will fall apart and come to an end.

27  “No one can break into a strong man's house and take away his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man; then he can plunder his house.
28  “I assure you that people can be forgiven all their sins and all the evil things they may say. t 29 But whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, because he has committed an eternal sin.”t

30 (Jesus said this because some people were saying, “He has an evil spirit in him.”)

Jesus' Mother and Brothers

(Mt 12.46–50; Lk 8.19–21)

32 A crowd was sitting round Jesus, and they said to him, “Look, your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, and they want you.”
33 Jesus answered, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 34 He looked at the people sitting round him and said, “Look! Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does what God wants him to do is my brother, my sister, my mother.”