A Man with a Withered Hand
1 1Again
2he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand.
2
And
3they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.
3
And he said to the man with the withered hand,
"Come here."
4
And he said to them,
4"Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?" But they were silent.
5
And he
5looked around at them with anger, grieved at
6their hardness of heart, and said to the man,
"Stretch out your hand." 7He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
6
8The Pharisees went out and immediately
9held counsel with
10the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
A Great Crowd Follows Jesus
7 11Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and
12a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea
8
and Jerusalem and
13Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around
14Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.
9
And he told his disciples to
15have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they
16crush him,
10
for
17he had healed many, so that all who had
18diseases pressed around him
19to touch him.
11
20And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they
21fell down before him and cried out, "You are
22the Son of God."
12
And
23he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
The Twelve Apostles
13 24And he went up on the mountain and called to him those
25whom he desired, and they came to him.
14
26And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach
15
27and have authority to cast out demons.
16
He appointed the twelve:
28Simon (to whom
29he gave the name Peter);
17
30James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder);
18
Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and
31Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean,
19
and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
20
Then he went
32home, and the crowd gathered again,
33so that they could not even eat.
21
34And when
35his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, "He
36is out of his mind."
Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit
22 And
37the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying,
38"He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "by the prince of demons he casts out the demons."
23
39And he called them to him 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 will not be able to stand.
26
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.
27
But 40no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. 41Then indeed he may plunder his house.
28
42"Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter,
29
but whoever 43blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"--
30
for they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."
Jesus' Mother and Brothers
31 44And his mother and his
45brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him.
32
And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you."
33
And he answered them,
"Who are my mother and my brothers?"
34
And
46looking about at those who sat around him, he said,
"Here are my mother and my brothers!
35
47For whoever 48does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother."