Mark 2:13-3:19

New American Standard Bible

¹³ And He went out again by the seashore; and ^(A)all the ^[a]people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.

Levi (Matthew) Called

^14 (B)As He passed by, He saw ^[b](C)Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He *said to him, “^(D)Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

¹⁵ And it *happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and ^[c]sinners were ^[d]dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. ¹⁶ When ^(E)the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the ^[e]sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “^(F)Why is He eating with tax collectors and ^[f]sinners?” ¹⁷ And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “^(G)It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

^18 (H)John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they *came and *said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, “While the groom is with them, ^[g]the attendants of the groom cannot fast, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ But the ^(I)days will come when the groom is taken away from them, and then they will fast, on that day.

²¹ “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, ^[h]the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. ²² And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”

Question of the Sabbath

^23 (J)And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while ^(K)picking the heads of grain. ²⁴ The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, ^(L)why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵ And He *said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; ²⁶ how he entered the house of God in the ^[i]time of ^(M)Abiathar the high priest, and ate the ^[j]consecrated bread, which ^(N)is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷ Jesus said to them, “^(O)The Sabbath ^[k]was made ^[l]for man, and ^(P)not man ^[m]for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.”

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

3 ^(Q)He ^(R)entered a synagogue again; and a man was there whose hand was withered. ² And ^(S)they were watching Him ^[n]closely to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, ^(T)so that they might accuse Him. ³ He *said to the man with the withered hand, “^[o]Get up and come forward!” ⁴ And He *said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. ⁵ After ^(U)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 ^[p]conspiring with the ^(V)Herodians against Him, as to how they might put Him to death.

^7 (W)Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and ^(X)a large multitude from Galilee followed, and also from Judea, ⁸ and from Jerusalem, and from ^(Y)Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of ^(Z)Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard about everything that He was doing and came to Him. ^9 (AA)And He told His disciples to see that a boat would be ready for Him because of the ^[q]masses, so that they would not crowd Him; ¹⁰ for He had ^(AB)healed many, with the result that all those who had ^(AC)diseases pushed in around Him in order to ^(AD)touch Him. ¹¹ And whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are ^(AE)the Son of God!” ¹² And He ^(AF)strongly warned them not to ^[r]reveal who He was.

The Twelve Are Chosen

¹³ And He *went up on ^(AG)the mountain and *^(AH)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: ^(AI)Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter), ^17 [s]James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of ^[t]James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”); ¹⁸ and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, ^[u]James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, and Simon the ^[v]Zealot; ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.