Mark 3

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

1 He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered.2 They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.3 He *said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and come forward!"4 And He *said to them, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?" But they kept silent.5 After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He *said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.6 The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

7 Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea,8 and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him.9 And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him;10 for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him.11 Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, "You are the Son of God!"12 And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was.

The Twelve Are Chosen

13 And He *went up on the mountain and *summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him.14 And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach,15 and to have authority to cast out the demons.16 And He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter),17 and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, "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 Zealot;19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.

20 And He *came thome, and the crowd *gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal.21 When His own tpeople heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "He has lost His senses."22 The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons."23 And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan?24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.25 If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.26 If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished!27 But no one can enter the strong man's house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

28 "Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter;29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"-30 because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

31 Then His mother and His brothers *arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him.32 A crowd was sitting around Him, and they *said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You."33 Answering them, He *said, "Who are My mother and My brothers?"34 Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He *said, "Behold My mother and My brothers!35 For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother."

Mark 4

Parable of the Sower and Soils

1 He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land.2 And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching,3 "Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow;4 as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up.5 Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil.6 And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.7 Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.8 Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."9 And He was saying, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

10 As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables.11 And He was saying to them, "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables,12 so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN."

Explanation

13 And He *said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?14 The sower sows the word.15 These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.16 In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy;17 and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away.18 And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word,19 but the worries of the tworld, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.20 And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."

21 And He was saying to them, "A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand?22 For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light.23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."24 And He was saying to them, "Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides.25 For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him."

Parable of the Seed

26 And He was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;27 and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows-how, he himself does not know.28 The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.29 But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."

Parable of the Mustard Seed

30 And He said, "How shall we tpicture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it?31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil,32 yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that THE BIRDS OF THE tAIR can NEST UNDER ITS SHADE."

33 With many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it;34 and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples.

Jesus Stills the Sea

35 On that day, when evening came, He *said to them, "Let us go over to the other side."36 Leaving the crowd, they *took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him.37 And there *arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.38 Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they *woke Him and *said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"39 And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Hush, be still." And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.40 And He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?"41 They became very much afraid and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"

Mark 5

The Gerasene Demoniac

1 They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes.2 When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him,3 and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain;4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him.5 Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones.6 Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him;7 and shouting with a loud voice, he *said, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!"8 For He had been saying to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!"9 And He was asking him, "What is your name?" And he *said to Him, "My name is Legion; for we are many."10 And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country.11 Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain.12  The demons implored Him, saying, "Send us into the swine so that we may enter them."13 Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea.

14 Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And the people came to see what it was that had happened.15 They *came to Jesus and *observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the "legion"; and they became frightened.16 Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the swine.17 And they began to implore Him to leave their region.18 As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him.19 And He did not let him, but He *said to him, "Go home to your people and report to them twhat great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you."20 And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

Miracles and Healing

21 When Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him; and so He stayed by the seashore.22 One of the synagogue officials named Jairus *came up, and on seeing Him, *fell at His feet23 and *implored Him earnestly, saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will get well and live."24 And He went off with him; and a large crowd was following Him and pressing in on Him.

25 A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years,26 and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse-27 after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak.28 For she thought, "If I just touch His garments, I will get well."29 Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.30 Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My garments?"31 And His disciples said to Him, "You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'"32 And He looked around to see the woman who had done this.33 But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.34 And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction."

35 While He was still speaking, they *came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, "Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?"36 But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, *said to the synagogue official, "Do not be afraid any longer, only believe."37 And He allowed no one to accompany Him, except Peter and James and John the brother of James.38 They *came to the house of the synagogue official; and He *saw a commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing.39 And entering in, He *said to them, "Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep."40 They began laughing at Him. But putting them all out, He *took along the child's father and mother and His own companions, and *entered the room where the child was.41 Taking the child by the hand, He *said to her, "Talitha kum!" (which translated means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!").42 Immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded.43 And He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said that something should be given her to eat.