3:1 He entered a synagogue again; and a man was there whose hand was withered.
3:2 And they were watching Him ①closely to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.
▷ ①Or maliciously
3:3 He *said to the man with the withered hand, “ ①Get up and come forward!”
▷ ①Lit Arise into the midst
3:4 And 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.
3:5 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.
3:6 The Pharisees went out and immediately began ①conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might put Him to death.
▷ ①Lit giving counsel
3:7 Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a large multitude from Galilee followed, and also from Judea,
3:8 and 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.
3:9 And He told His disciples to see that a boat would be ready for Him because of the ①masses, so that they would not crowd Him;
▷ ①Lit crowd
3:10 for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had diseases pushed in around Him in order to touch Him.
3:11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are the Son of God!”
3:12 And He strongly warned them not to ①reveal who He was.
▷ ①Lit make Him known
3:13 And He *went up on the mountain and *summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him.
3:14 And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach,
3:15 and to have authority to cast out the demons.
3:16 And He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter),
3:17 ①James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of ②James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”);
▷ ①Or Jacob ②Or Jacob
3:18 and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, ①James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, and Simon the ②Zealot;
▷ ①Or Jacob ②Or Cananaean
3:19 and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.
3:20 And He *came ①home, and the crowd *gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat ②a meal.
▷ ①Lit into a house ②Lit bread
3:21 And when His own ①people heard about this, they came out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.”
▷ ①Or family
3:22 The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He ①is possessed by ②Beelzebul,” and “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”
▷ ①Lit has Beelzebul ②One early ms Beezebul; some early ancient versions Beelzebub
3:23 And so He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan?
3:24 And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
3:25 If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
3:26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but ①he is finished!
▷ ①Lit he has an end
3:27 But 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.
3:28 “Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons and daughters of men, and whatever blasphemies they commit;
3:29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—
3:30 because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
3:31 Then His mother and His brothers *came, and while standing outside they sent word to Him, calling for Him.
3:32 And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they *said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.”
3:33 Answering them, He *said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?”
3:34 And looking around at those who were sitting around Him, He *said, “Here are My mother and My brothers!
3:35 For whoever does the will of God, this is My brother, and sister, and mother.”