Mark 3:6-21

International Children’s Bible

⁶ Then the Pharisees left and began making plans with the Herodians^[a] about a way to kill Jesus.

Many People Follow Jesus

⁷ Jesus left with his followers for the lake. A large crowd from Galilee followed him. ⁸ Also many people came from Judea, from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from the lands across the Jordan River, and from the area of Tyre and Sidon. They came because they had heard about all the things Jesus was doing. ⁹ Jesus saw the crowds. So he told his followers to get a boat ready for him. He wanted the boat so that the many people would not crowd themselves against him. ¹⁰ He had healed many people. So all the sick were pushing toward him to touch him. ¹¹ Some had evil spirits in them. When the evil spirits saw Jesus, they fell down before him and shouted, “You are the Son of God!” ¹² But Jesus strongly commanded the spirits not to tell who he was.

Jesus Chooses His 12 Apostles

¹³ Then Jesus went up on a hill and called some men to come to him. These were the men Jesus wanted, and they went up to him. ¹⁴ Jesus chose 12 men and called them apostles.^[b] He wanted these 12 to be with him, and he wanted to send them to other places to preach. ¹⁵ He also wanted them to have the power to force demons out of people. ¹⁶ These are the 12 men he chose: Simon (Jesus gave him the name Peter); ¹⁷ James and John, the sons of Zebedee (Jesus gave them the name Boanerges, which means “Sons of Thunder”); ¹⁸ Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot. Judas is the one who gave Jesus to his enemies.

People Say Jesus Has a Devil

²⁰ Then Jesus went back home. But again a crowd gathered. There were so many people that Jesus and his followers could not eat. ²¹ His family heard about all these things. They went to get him because people were saying that Jesus was out of his mind.