Mark 3

And he went into the synagogue again and a man was there with a shriveled hand.

And they were watching him closely—if he would heal him on the Sabbath—so that they could accuse him.

And he said to the man who had the shriveled hand, “Get up in the midst of the people.”

And 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 remained silent.

And looking around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

And the Pharisees went out and immediately began plotting with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

And Jesus withdrew to the lake with his disciples, and a large crowd from Galilee followed him. And people from Judea,

and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon, came to him when they heard about everything he was doing.

And he told his disciples to prepare a small boat for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him;

for he had healed many people, so all those who had afflictions were pressing toward him in order to touch him.

And when the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, saying, “You are the Son of God.”

And he sternly warned them not to make him known.

And he went up on the mountain and called to himself those whom he wanted, and they came to him.

And he appointed twelve, whom he named apostles so that they would be with him and so that he could send them out to preach

and to have authority to cast out demons.

And he appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter),

and James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”),

and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite,

and Judas Iscariot (who also betrayed him). And he came home,

and the crowd came together again, to such an extent that they were not even able to eat bread.

And when his family heard this, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

And the experts in the law who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons.”

And he called them over to himself and began speaking to them in parables, “How is the Adversary able to cast out the Adversary?

And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom is not able to stand.

And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

And if the Adversary has risen up against himself and is divided, he is not able to stand, but his end has come.

But no one is able to enter into the house of the strong man and plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man, and then he can plunder his house.

“Truly I say to you, people will be forgiven all their sins, and whatever defaming words they speak,

but whoever defames the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is guilty of an everlasting sin”—

because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

And his mother and his brothers arrived and, standing outside, they sent word to him, calling for him.

And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Look! Your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you.”

And answering them, he said, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”

And looking around at those who were sitting in a circle around him, he said, “Look! Here are my mother and my brothers!

For whoever does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother.”