Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

1He entered a synagogue again; and a man was there whose hand was withered. 2And they were watching Him [a]closely to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 3He *said to the man with the withered hand, “[b]Get up and come forward!” 4And He *said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. 5After 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. 6The Pharisees went out and immediately began [c]conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might put Him to death.

7Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a large 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 number of people heard about everything that He was doing and came to Him. 9And He told His disciples to see that a boat would be ready for Him because of the [d]masses, so that they would not crowd Him; 10for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had diseases pushed in around Him in order to touch Him. 11And whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are the Son of God!” 12And He strongly warned them not to [e]reveal who He was.

The Twelve Are Chosen

13And He *went up on the mountain and *summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. 14And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could 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), 17[f]James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of [g]James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”); 18and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, [h]James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, and Simon the [i]Zealot; 19and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

20And He *came [j]home, and the crowd *gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat [k]a meal. 21And when His own [l]people heard about this, they came out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.” 22The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He [m]is possessed by [n]Beelzebul,” and “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” 23And so He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but [o]he is finished! 27But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

28“Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons and daughters of men, and whatever blasphemies they commit; 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.”

31Then His mother and His brothers *came, and while standing outside they sent word to Him, calling for Him. 32And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they *said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” 33Answering them, He *said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” 34And looking around at those who were sitting around Him, He *said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 35For whoever does the will of God, this is My brother, and sister, and mother.”