Mark 3:13-4:20
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
“‘they (AN)may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they (AO)should turn and be forgiven.’”
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. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it (AS)with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but (AT)endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately (AU)they fall away.[c] 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but (AV)the cares of (AW)the world and (AX)the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and (AY)bear fruit, (AZ)thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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