Mark 3:13-4:14

English Standard Version

The Twelve Apostles

^13 (A)And he went up on the mountain and called to him those ^(B)whom he desired, and they came to him. ^14 (C)And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach ^15 (D)and have authority to cast out demons. ¹⁶ He appointed the twelve: ^(E)Simon (to whom ^(F)he gave the name Peter); ^17 (G)James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); ¹⁸ Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and ^(H)Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot,^{[a] 19} and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

²⁰ Then he went ^(I)home, and the crowd gathered again, ^(J)so that they could not even eat. ^21 (K)And when ^(L)his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He ^(M)is out of his mind.”

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

²² And ^(N)the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, ^(O)“He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” ^23 (P)And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶ And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. ²⁷ But ^(Q)no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. ^(R)Then indeed he may plunder his house.

^28 (S)“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, ²⁹ but whoever ^(T)blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰ for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Jesus' Mother and Brothers

^31 (U)And his mother and his ^(V)brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. ³² And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers^[b] are outside, seeking you.” ³³ And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” ³⁴ And ^(W)looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ^35 (X)For whoever ^(Y)does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

The Parable of the Sower

4 Again ^(Z)he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, ^(AA)so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ² And ^(AB)he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³ “Listen! Behold, ^(AC)a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And ^(AD)when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, ^(AE)it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among ^(AF)thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸ And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and ^(AG)a hundredfold.” ⁹ And he said, ^(AH)“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰ And ^(AI)when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ And he said to them, ^(AJ)“To you has been given ^(AK)the secret of the kingdom of God, but for ^(AL)those outside everything is in parables, ^12 (AM)so that

^13 (AP)And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ^14 (AQ)The sower sows ^(AR)the word.