Mark 3:7–30

MINISTERING TO THE MULTITUDE

⁷Jesus^bd departed with his disciples to the sea, and a large crowd followed from Galilee,^be and a large crowd followed from Judea,^{bf 8}Jerusalem,^bg Idumea, beyond the Jordan,^bh and around Tyre^bi and Sidon.^bj The large crowd came to him because they heard about everything he was doing. ⁹Then he told his disciples to have a small boat^bk ready for him, so that the crowd wouldn’t crush him. ¹⁰Since he had healed^bl many, all who had diseases were pressing toward him to touch^bm him. ¹¹Whenever the unclean^bn spirits^bo saw him, they fell down^bp before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God!”^{bq 12}And he would strongly warn^br them not to make him known.^bs

THE TWELVE APOSTLES

¹³Jesus^bt went up the mountain^bu and summoned those he wanted, and they came to him. ¹⁴He appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles,^Bbv to be with him, to send them out to preach,^{bw 15}and to have authority to^C drive out demons. ¹⁶He appointed the Twelve:^Dbx To Simon,^by he gave the name Peter;^{bz 17}and to James^ca the son of Zebedee,^cb and to his brother John,^cc he gave the name “Boanerges” (that is, “Sons of Thunder”^cd); ¹⁸Andrew;^ce Philip^cf and Bartholomew; Matthew^cg and Thomas;^ch James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot,^ci who also betrayed him.

A HOUSE DIVIDED

²⁰Jesus entered a house, and the crowd gathered again so that they were not even able to eat.^{A 21}When his family^a heard this, they set out to restrain him, because they said, “He’s out of his mind.”^b

²²The scribes^c who had come down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,”^d and, “He drives out^e demons^f by the ruler^g of the demons.”^h

²³So he summonedⁱ them and spoke to them in parables:^j “How can Satan^k drive out Satan?^{l 24}If a kingdom^m is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. ²⁶And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand but is finished. ²⁷But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his possessions unless he first ties upⁿ the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.

²⁸“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for all sins and whatever blasphemies^o they utter. ²⁹But whoever blasphemes^p against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness,^q but is guilty^r of an eternal sin”^Bs—³⁰because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”^t