3 While in Capernaum Jesus went over to the synagogue again, and noticed a man there with a deformed hand.

² Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. Would he heal the man’s hand? If he did, they planned to arrest him!

³ Jesus asked the man to come and stand in front of the congregation. ⁴ Then turning to his enemies he asked, “Is it all right to do kind deeds on Sabbath days? Or is this a day for doing harm? Is it a day to save lives or to destroy them?” But they wouldn’t answer him. ⁵ Looking around at them angrily, for he was deeply disturbed by their indifference to human need, he said to the man, “Reach out your hand.” He did, and instantly his hand was healed!

⁶ At once the Pharisees^[a] went away and met with the Herodians to discuss plans for killing Jesus.

^7-8 Meanwhile, Jesus and his disciples withdrew to the beach, followed by a huge crowd from all over Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, from beyond the Jordan River, and even from as far away as Tyre and Sidon. For the news about his miracles had spread far and wide and vast numbers came to see him for themselves.

⁹ He instructed his disciples to bring around a boat and to have it standing ready to rescue him in case he was crowded off the beach. ¹⁰ For there had been many healings that day and as a result great numbers of sick people were crowding around him, trying to touch him.

¹¹ And whenever those possessed by demons caught sight of him they would fall down before him shrieking, “You are the Son of God!” ¹² But he strictly warned them not to make him known.

¹³ Afterwards he went up into the hills and summoned certain ones he chose, inviting them to come and join him there; and they did. ^14-15 Then he selected twelve of them to be his regular companions and to go out to preach and to cast out demons. ^16-19 These are the names of the twelve he chose: Simon (he renamed him “Peter”), James and John (the sons of Zebedee, but Jesus called them “Sons of Thunder”), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (the son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon (a member of a political party advocating violent overthrow of the Roman government), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).

²⁰ When he returned to the house where he was staying, the crowds began to gather again, and soon it was so full of visitors that he couldn’t even find time to eat. ²¹ When his friends heard what was happening, they came to try to take him home with them.

“He’s out of his mind,” they said.

²² But the Jewish teachers of religion who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “His trouble is that he’s possessed by Satan, king of demons. That’s why demons obey him.”

²³ Jesus summoned these men and asked them (using proverbs they all understood), “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ A kingdom divided against itself will collapse. ²⁵ A home filled with strife and division destroys itself. ²⁶ And if Satan is fighting against himself, how can he accomplish anything? He would never survive. ²⁷ Satan must be bound before his demons are cast out,^[b] just as a strong man must be tied up before his house can be ransacked and his property robbed.

²⁸ “I solemnly declare that any sin of man can be forgiven, even blasphemy against me; ²⁹ but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven. It is an eternal sin.”

³⁰ He told them this because they were saying he did his miracles by Satan’s power instead of acknowledging it was by the Holy Spirit’s power.^[c]

^31-32 Now his mother and brothers arrived at the crowded house where he was teaching, and they sent word for him to come out and talk with them. “Your mother and brothers are outside and want to see you,” he was told.

³³ He replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” ³⁴ Looking at those around him he said, “These are my mother and brothers! ³⁵ Anyone who does God’s will is my brother, and my sister, and my mother.”