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

The Twelve Are Chosen

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

²⁰ And He *came ^[g](N)home, and the ^(O)crowd *gathered again, ^(P)to such an extent that they could not even eat ^[h]a meal. ²¹ And when ^(Q)His own ^[i]people heard about this, they came out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “^(R)He has lost His senses.” ²² The scribes who came down ^(S)from Jerusalem were saying, “He ^[j]is possessed by ^[k](T)Beelzebul,” and “^(U)He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” ^23 (V)And so He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in ^(W)parables: “How can ^(X)Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ And 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 And if ^(Y)Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but ^[l]he is finished! ^27 (Z)But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

²⁸ “^(AA)Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons and daughters of men, and whatever blasphemies they commit; ²⁹ but ^(AB)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.”