Mark 2–3

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

2And when he returned to ^tCapernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. ²And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. ^3uAnd they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. ⁴And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, ^vthey removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. ⁵And when Jesus ^wsaw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, ^xyour sins are forgiven.” ⁶Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ⁷“Why does this man speak like that? ^yHe is blaspheming! ^zWho can forgive sins but God alone?” ⁸And immediately Jesus, ^aperceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? ⁹Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? ¹⁰But that you may know that ^bthe Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— ¹¹“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” ¹²And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and ^cglorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Jesus Calls Levi

¹³He went out again beside the sea, and ^dall the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. ^14eAnd as he passed by, he saw ^fLevi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁵And as he reclined at table in his house, many ^gtax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶And ^hthe scribes of¹ the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, ^g“Why does he eat² with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ⁱI came not to call the righteous, ^jbut sinners.”

A Question About Fasting

¹⁸Now ^kJohn’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, ^l“Why do John’s disciples and ^mthe disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹And Jesus said to them, ⁿ“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ^20oThe days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^pthen they will fast in that day. ²¹No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. ²²And no one puts new wine into old ^qwineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”³

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

^23rOne Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples ^sbegan to pluck heads of grain. ²⁴And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, ^twhy are they doing ^uwhat is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵And he said to them, ^v“Have you never read ^wwhat David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: ²⁶how he entered the house of God, in the time of^{4 x}Abiathar the high priest, and ate ^ythe bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷And he said to them, ^z“The Sabbath was made for man, ^anot man for the Sabbath. ²⁸So ^bthe Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

A Man with a Withered Hand

3^cAgain ^dhe entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. ²And ^ethey watched Jesus,¹ to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. ³And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” ⁴And he said to them, ^f“Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. ⁵And he ^glooked around at them with anger, grieved at ^htheir hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” ⁱHe stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ^6jThe Pharisees went out and immediately ^jheld counsel with ^kthe Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

A Great Crowd Follows Jesus

^7lJesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and ^ma great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea ⁸and Jerusalem and ⁿIdumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around ^oTyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. ⁹And he told his disciples to ^phave a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they ^qcrush him, ¹⁰for ^rhe had healed many, so that all who had ^sdiseases pressed around him ^tto touch him. ^11uAnd whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they ^vfell down before him and cried out, “You are ^wthe Son of God.” ¹²And ^xhe strictly ordered them not to make him known.

The Twelve Apostles

^13yAnd he went up on the mountain and called to him those ^zwhom he desired, and they came to him. ^14yAnd he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach ^15yand have authority to cast out demons. ¹⁶He appointed the twelve: ^aSimon (to whom ^bhe gave the name Peter); ^17cJames the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); ¹⁸Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and ^dMatthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot,^{2 19}and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

²⁰Then he went ^ehome, and the crowd gathered again, ^fso that they could not even eat. ^21gAnd when ^hhis family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He ⁱis out of his mind.”

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

²²And ^jthe scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, ^k“He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” ^23lAnd he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵And if 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 is coming to an end. ²⁷But ^mno one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. ⁿThen indeed he may plunder his house.

^28o“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, ²⁹but whoever ^pblasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers

^31qAnd his mother and his ^rbrothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. ³²And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers³ are outside, seeking you.” ³³And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” ³⁴And ^slooking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ^35tFor whoever ^udoes the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”