Jesus Heals a Man’s Hand^(A)

3 Another time when Jesus went into a synagogue, a man with a ·crippled [paralyzed; deformed; shriveled] hand was there. ² ·Some people [^LThey; ^Cprobably the Pharisees; see 2:24, 27] watched Jesus closely to see if he would heal the man on the Sabbath day so they could accuse him.

³ Jesus said to the man with the crippled hand, “Stand up here in ·the middle [front] of everyone.”

⁴ Then Jesus asked ·the people [^Lthem; ^Cprobably the Pharisees], “Which is lawful [^Caccording to the law of Moses] on the Sabbath day: to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to kill?” But they ·said nothing to answer him [remained silent].

⁵ Jesus was angry as he looked at them, and he felt very ·sad [distressed; grieved] because ·they were stubborn [of their hard hearts]. Then he said to the man, “·Hold out [stretch out] your hand.” The man ·held out [stretched out] his hand and it was ·healed [restored]. ⁶ Then the Pharisees left and [immediately] began ·making plans [plotting] with the Herodians [^Ca political group that supported king Herod and his family] about a way to ·kill [destroy] Jesus.

Many People Follow Jesus^(B)

⁷ Jesus left with his ·followers [disciples] for the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed him. ⁸ Also many people came from Judea, from Jerusalem, from Idumea [^Clocated to the south], from the lands across the Jordan River, and from the area of Tyre and Sidon [^Clocated to the north]. When they heard what Jesus was doing, many people came to him. ⁹ When Jesus saw the crowds, he told his ·followers [disciples] to get a boat ready for him to keep people from ·crowding against [crushing] him. ¹⁰ He had healed many people, so all the sick were pushing toward him to touch him. ¹¹ When ·evil [defiling; ^Lunclean; see 1:23] spirits [within people] saw Jesus, they fell down before him and shouted, “You are the Son of God!” ¹² But Jesus strongly ·warned [rebuked; ordered] them not to tell who he was.

Jesus Chooses His Twelve Apostles^(C)

¹³ Then Jesus went up ·on a mountain [to the hills] and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. ¹⁴ Jesus ·chose [appointed] twelve [^Cparalleling the twelve tribes of Israel] and called them apostles^[a] [^C“apostle” means a messenger, or someone sent with a commission]. He wanted them to be with him, and he wanted to send them out to preach ¹⁵ and to have the authority to ·force [drive; cast] demons out of people. ¹⁶ These are the twelve he ·chose [appointed]: Simon (Jesus named him Peter), ¹⁷ James and John, the sons of Zebedee (Jesus named them Boanerges, which [^Cin Aramaic] means “Sons of Thunder”), ¹⁸ Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot [^Ceither religiously zealous, or a (former) member of the revolutionary movement known as Zealots], ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot [^CIscariot probably means “man of Kerioth”], who later ·turned against [betrayed] Jesus.

Some People Say Jesus Is Possessed by an Evil Spirit^(D)

²⁰ Then Jesus went ·home [into a house], but again a crowd gathered. There were so many people that Jesus and his followers could not eat. ²¹ When his ·family [own people] heard this, they went to ·get [seize; take charge of] him because they thought he was out of his mind. ²² But the ·teachers of the law [scribes] from Jerusalem were saying, “·Beelzebul [^Canother name for Satan] is ·living inside [possessing] him! He uses power from the ·ruler [prince] of demons to ·force [drive; cast] demons out of people.”

²³ So Jesus called the people together and ·taught them with stories [^Lspoke to them in parables; ^CGreek parabolē, which can mean stories and analogies of various kinds]. He said, ·“Satan will not force himself out of people. [^L“How can Satan drive out Satan?] ²⁴ A kingdom that is ·divided [at war with itself] cannot ·continue [stand], ²⁵ and a ·family [household; ^Lhouse] that is divided cannot ·continue [stand]. ²⁶ And if Satan ·is [rises; rebels] against himself and ·fights against his own people [is divided], he cannot ·continue [stand]; that is the end of Satan. ²⁷ No one can enter a strong man’s house and ·steal [seize; plunder] his things unless he first ·ties up [binds] the strong man [Is. 49:24–25]. Then he can ·steal [seize; plunder] things from the house. [^CSatan is the strong man and his possessions are the people Jesus is freeing from Satan’s power.] ²⁸ I tell you the truth, all sins that people do and all ·the things people say against God [blasphemies] can be forgiven. ²⁹ But anyone who ·speaks against [blasphemes] the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of ·a sin that continues forever [a sin with eternal consequences; ^Lan eternal sin].”

³⁰ Jesus said this because the teachers of the law said that he had an ·evil [defiling; ^Lunclean] spirit inside him.

Jesus’ True Family^(E)

³¹ Then Jesus’ mother and ·brothers [or brothers and sisters; ^Cthe Greek word can mean “siblings”; cf. 6:3] arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to tell him to come out. ³² Many people were sitting around Jesus, and they said to him, “Your mother and brothers^[b] are ·waiting [looking; asking] for you outside.”

³³ Jesus asked, “Who are my mother and my brothers [and sisters]?” ³⁴ Then he looked at those sitting around him and said, “·Here are [Look; ^TBehold,] my mother and my brothers [and sisters]! ³⁵ My true brother and sister and mother are those who do ·what God wants [the will of God].”