1And He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there with a withered hand. 2And they were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, in order that they might accuse Him. 3And He said to the man with the withered hand, “Rise and come forward!” 4And He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. 5And after 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. 6And the Pharisees went out and immediately began taking counsel with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

     7And Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, 8and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. 9And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the multitude, in order that they might not crowd Him; 10for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed about Him in order to touch Him. 11And whenever the unclean spirits beheld Him, they would fall down before Him and cry out, saying, “You are the Son of God!” 12And He earnestly warned them not to make Him known.

The Twelve Are Chosen

     13And He went up to the mountain and summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. 14And He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him, and that He might send them out to preach, 15and to have authority to cast out the demons. 16And He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter), 17and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”); 18and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot; 19and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

     20And He came home, and the multitude gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. 21And when His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.” 22And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” 23And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24“And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25“And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26“And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished! 27“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“Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

     31And His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him, and called Him. 32And a multitude was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” 33And answering them, He said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” 34And looking about on those who were sitting around Him, He said, “Behold, My mother and My brothers! 35“For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”