Mark 3:13-6:29

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Jesus Appoints the Twelve

¹³ He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him.^{(A) 14} And he appointed twelve^[a] to be with him and to be sent out to preach ¹⁵ and to have authority to cast out demons. ¹⁶ So he appointed the twelve:^[b] Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter),^{(B) 17} James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder), ¹⁸ and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who handed him over.

Jesus and Beelzebul

²⁰ Then he went home, and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat.^{(C) 21} When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.”^{(D) 22} And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.”^{(E) 23} And he called them to him and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan?^{(F) 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 his end has come. ²⁷ But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.^(G)

²⁸ “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter,^{(H) 29} but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰ for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

The True Kindred of Jesus

³¹ Then his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him.^{(I) 32} A crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers^[c] are outside asking for you.” ³³ And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” ³⁴ And looking at those who sat 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.”

The Parable of the Sower

4 Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.^{(J) 2} He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:^{(K) 3} “Listen! A sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell on a path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸ Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”^{(L) 9} And he said, “If you have ears to hear, then hear!”^(M)

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰ When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret^[d] of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything comes in parables,^{(N) 12} in order that

¹³ And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.^{(P) 16} And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. ¹⁷ But they have no root and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.^{[e] 18} And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, ¹⁹ but the cares of the age and the lure of wealth and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. ²⁰ And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

A Lamp under a Bushel Basket

²¹ He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket or under the bed and not on the lampstand? ²² For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.^{(Q) 23} If you have ears to hear, then hear!”^{(R) 24} And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and it will be added to you.^{(S) 25} For to those who have, more will be given, and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”^(T)

The Parable of the Growing Seed

²⁶ He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground^{(U) 27} and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. ²⁸ The earth produces of itself first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. ²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle because the harvest has come.”^(V)

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³⁰ He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?^{(W) 31} It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³² yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

The Use of Parables

³³ With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it;^{(X) 34} he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.^(Y)

Jesus Stills a Storm

³⁵ On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.^{(Z) 37} A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. ³⁸ But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And waking up, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Be silent! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. ⁴⁰ He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”^{(AA) 41} And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Jesus Heals a Man Possessed by Demons

5 They came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gerasenes.^{[f] 2} And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met him.^{(AB) 3} He lived among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain, ⁴ for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces, and no one had the strength to subdue him. ⁵ Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. ⁶ When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him,^{(AC) 7} and he shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”^{(AD) 8} For he had said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” ⁹ Then Jesus^[g] asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” ¹⁰ He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the region. ¹¹ Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding, ¹² and the unclean spirits^[h] begged him, “Send us into the swine; let us enter them.” ¹³ So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine, and the herd, numbering about two thousand, stampeded down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in the sea.

¹⁴ The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. ¹⁵ They came to Jesus and saw the man possessed by demons sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion, and they became frightened.^{(AE) 16} Those who had seen what had happened to the man possessed by demons and to the swine reported it. ¹⁷ Then they began to beg Jesus^[i] to leave their neighborhood.^{(AF) 18} As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him. ¹⁹ But Jesus^[j] refused and said to him, “Go home to your own people, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and what mercy he has shown you.” ²⁰ And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone was amazed.^(AG)

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed

²¹ When Jesus had crossed again in the boat^[k] to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him, and he was by the sea.^{(AH) 22} Then one of the leaders of the synagogue, named Jairus, came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet^{(AI) 23} and pleaded with him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.”^{(AJ) 24} So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. ²⁵ Now there was a woman who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years.^{(AK) 26} She had endured much under many physicians and had spent all that she had, and she was no better but rather grew worse. ²⁷ She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸ for she said, “If I but touch his cloak, I will be made well.” ²⁹ Immediately her flow of blood stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. ³⁰ Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my cloak?” ³¹ And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” ³² He looked all around to see who had done it. ³³ But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. ³⁴ He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

³⁵ While he was still speaking, some people came from the synagogue leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” ³⁶ But overhearing^[l] what they said, Jesus said to the synagogue leader, “Do not be afraid; only believe.” ³⁷ He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. ³⁸ When they came to the synagogue leader’s house, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. ³⁹ When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” ⁴⁰ And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. ⁴¹ Taking her by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” ⁴² And immediately the girl stood up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. ⁴³ He strictly ordered them that no one should know this and told them to give her something to eat.

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

6 He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. ² On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands!^{(AL) 3} Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary^[m] and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense^[n] at him.^{(AM) 4} Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown and among their own kin and in their own house.”^{(AN) 5} And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.^{(AO) 6} And he was amazed at their unbelief.

The Mission of the Twelve

Then he went about among the villages teaching.^{(AP) 7} He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.^{(AQ) 8} He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff: no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, ⁹ but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. ¹⁰ He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. ¹¹ If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” ¹² So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent.^{(AR) 13} They cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.^(AS)

The Death of John the Baptist

¹⁴ King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’s^[o] name had become known. Some were^[p] saying, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him.” ¹⁵ But others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”^{(AT) 16} But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”^(AU)

¹⁷ For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod^[q] had married her. ¹⁸ For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”^{(AV) 19} And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to kill him. But she could not, ²⁰ for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed,^[r] and yet he liked to listen to him.^{(AW) 21} But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee.^{(AX) 22} When his daughter Herodias^[s] came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests, and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.” ²³ And he swore^[t] to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.”^{(AY) 24} She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the baptizer.” ²⁵ Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” ²⁶ The king was deeply grieved, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. ²⁷ Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s^[u] head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, ²⁸ brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹ When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.