Mark 3:13-4:14
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
‘they may indeed look but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand;
so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’ ”(O)
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.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.