Folly of the Godless, and the Restoration of Israel^(A)

To the Chief Musician. Set to “Mahalath.” A ^[a]Contemplation of David.

Jesus Is Questioned About Fasting^(A)

^18 (B)The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, “Can the ^[a]friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. ²⁰ But the days will come when the bridegroom will be ^(C)taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. ²¹ No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. ²² And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath^(D)

^23 (E)Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began ^(F)to pluck the heads of grain. ²⁴ And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is ^(G)not lawful on the Sabbath?”

²⁵ But He said to them, “Have you never read ^(H)what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: ²⁶ how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, ^(I)which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?”

²⁷ And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the ^(J)Sabbath.

Healing on the Sabbath^(A)

3 And ^(B)He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. ² So they ^(C)watched Him closely, whether He would ^(D)heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might ^[a]accuse Him. ³ And He said to the man who had the withered hand, ^[b]“Step forward.” ⁴ Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. ⁵ And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the ^(E)hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored ^[c]as whole as the other. ^6 (F)Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with ^(G)the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

A Great Multitude Follows Jesus^(H)

⁷ But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, ^(I)and from Judea ⁸ and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how ^(J)many things He was doing, came to Him. ⁹ So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him. ¹⁰ For He healed ^(K)many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to ^(L)touch Him. ^11 (M)And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, ^(N)“You are the Son of God.” ¹² But ^(O)He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.

The Twelve Apostles^(P)

^13 (Q)And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. ¹⁴ Then He appointed twelve, ^[d]that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, ¹⁵ and to have ^[e]power ^[f]to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: ^16 [g]Simon, ^(R)to whom He gave the name Peter; ¹⁷ 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, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. And they went into a house.

A House Divided Cannot Stand^(S)

²⁰ Then the multitude came together again, ^(T)so that they could not so much as eat bread. ²¹ But when His ^(U)own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, ^(V)for they said, “He is out of His mind.”

²² And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, ^(W)“He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ^(X)ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”

^23 (Y)So He called them to Himself 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 cannot stand. ²⁶ And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. ^27 (Z)No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.

The Unpardonable Sin^(AA)

^28 (AB)“Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; ²⁹ but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”— ³⁰ because they ^(AC)said, “He has an unclean spirit.”