Mark 3

₁Then Jesus went back to the synagogue, where there was a man who had a paralysed hand. ₂Some 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. ₃Jesus said to the man, “Come up here to the front.” ₄Then 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. ₅Jesus 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. ₆So the Pharisees left the synagogue and met at once with some members of Herod's party, and they made plans to kill Jesus.

₇Jesus and his disciples went away to Lake Galilee, and a large crowd followed him. They had come from Galilee, from Judea, ₈from Jerusalem, from the territory of Idumea, from the territory on the east side of the Jordan, and from the region round the cities of Tyre and Sidon. All these people came to Jesus because they had heard of the things he was doing. ₉The crowd was so large that Jesus told his disciples to get a boat ready for him, so that the people would not crush him. ₁₀He had healed many people, and all those who were ill kept pushing their way to him in order to touch him. ₁₁And 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!”

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

₁₃Then Jesus went up a hill and called to himself the men he wanted. They came to him, ₁₄and he chose twelve, whom he named apostles. “I have chosen you to be with me,” he told them. “I will also send you out to preach, ₁₅and you will have authority to drive out demons.”

₁₆These are the twelve he chose: Simon (Jesus gave him the name Peter); ₁₇James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee (Jesus gave them the name Boanerges, which means “Men of Thunder”); ₁₈Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Patriot, ₁₉and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus.

₂₀Then Jesus went home. Again such a large crowd gathered that Jesus and his disciples had no time to eat. ₂₁When his family heard about it, they set out to take charge of him, because people were saying, “He's gone mad!”

₂₂Some 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.”

₂₃So Jesus called them to him and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? ₂₄If a country divides itself into groups which fight each other, that country will fall apart. ₂₅If a family divides itself into groups which fight each other, that family will fall apart. ₂₆So 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. ₂₉But whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, because he has committed an eternal sin.” ₃₀(Jesus said this because some people were saying, “He has an evil spirit in him.”)

₃₁Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside the house and sent in a message, asking for him. ₃₂A crowd was sitting round Jesus, and they said to him, “Look, your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, and they want you.”

₃₃Jesus answered, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” ₃₄He looked at the people sitting round him and said, “Look! Here are my mother and my brothers! ₃₅Whoever does what God wants him to do is my brother, my sister, my mother.”