Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

3 ^(A)He ^(B)entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered. ^2 (C)They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, ^(D)so that they might accuse Him. ³ He *said to the man with the withered hand, “^[a]Get up and come forward!” ⁴ And He *said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. ⁵ After ^(E)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 ^[b]conspiring with the ^(F)Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

^7 (G)Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and ^(H)a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, ⁸ and from Jerusalem, and from ^(I)Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of ^(J)Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. ^9 (K)And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; ¹⁰ for He had ^(L)healed many, with the result that all those who had ^(M)afflictions pressed around Him in order to ^(N)touch Him. ¹¹ Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are ^(O)the Son of God!” ¹² And He ^(P)earnestly warned them not to ^[c]tell who He was.

The Twelve Are Chosen

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

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

²⁸ “^(AG)Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; ²⁹ but ^(AH)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.”

^31 (AI)Then His mother and His brothers *arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him. ³² A crowd was sitting around Him, and they *said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” ³³ Answering them, He *said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” ³⁴ Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He *said, “^(AJ)Behold My mother and My brothers! ³⁵ For whoever ^(AK)does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”