Mark 3:7–30

Many People Are Cured—Luke 6:17–19

⁷Jesus left with his disciples for the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd from Galilee, Judea, ⁸Jerusalem, Idumea, and from across the Jordan River, and from around Tyre and Sidon followed him. They came to him because they had heard about everything he was doing. ⁹Jesus told his disciples to have a boat ready so that the crowd would not crush him. ¹⁰He had cured so many that everyone with a disease rushed up to him in order to touch him. ¹¹Whenever people with evil spirits saw him, they would fall down in front of him and shout, “You are the Son of God!” ¹²He gave them orders not to tell people who he was. 

Jesus Appoints Twelve Apostles—Matthew 10:1–4; Luke 6:13–16

¹³Jesus went up a mountain, called those whom he wanted, and they came to him. ¹⁴He appointed twelve whom he called apostles.^aThey were to accompany him and to be sent out by him to spread ⸤the Good News⸥. ¹⁵They also had the authority to force demons out of people. 

¹⁶He appointed these twelve: Simon (whom Jesus named Peter), ¹⁷James and his brother John (Zebedee’s sons whom Jesus named Boanerges, which means “Thunderbolts”), ¹⁸Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed Jesus). 

Jesus Is Accused of Working with Beelzebul—Matthew 12:22–32; Luke 11:14–23

²⁰Then Jesus went home. Another crowd gathered so that Jesus and his disciples could not even eat. ²¹When his family heard about it, they went to get him. They said, “He’s out of his mind!” 

²²The experts in Moses’ Teachings who had come from Jerusalem said, “Beelzebul is in him,” and “He forces demons out of people with the help of the ruler of demons.” 

²³Jesus called them together and used this illustration: “How can Satan force out Satan? ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot last. ²⁵And if a household is divided against itself, that household will not last. ²⁶So if Satan rebels against himself and is divided, he cannot last. That will be the end of him. 

²⁷“No one can go into a strong man’s house and steal his property. First he must tie up the strong man. Then he can go through the strong man’s house and steal his property. 

²⁸“I can guarantee this truth: People will be forgiven for any sin or curse. ²⁹But whoever curses the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. He is guilty of an everlasting sin.” ³⁰Jesus said this because the experts in Moses’ Teachings had said that he had an evil spirit.