Mark 3:7–30

Ministering to the Multitude

⁷Jesus ^adeparted with His disciples to the sea, and a large crowd followed from Galilee, ^bJudea, ^c8Jerusalem, ^dIdumea, beyond the Jordan, ^eand around Tyre ^fand Sidon. ^gThe large crowd came to Him because they heard about everything He was doing. ⁹Then He told His disciples to have a small boat ^hready for Him, so the crowd would not crush Him. ¹⁰Since He had healed ⁱmany, all who had diseases were pressing toward Him to touch ^jHim. ¹¹Whenever the unclean ^kspirits ^lsaw Him, those possessed fell down ^mbefore Him and cried out, “You are the Son of God!” ⁿ¹²And He would strongly warn ^othem not to make Him known. ^p

The 12 Apostles

¹³Then ^qHe went up the mountain ^rand summoned those He wanted, and they came to Him. ¹⁴He also appointed 12—He also named them apostles ^st—to be with Him, to send them out to preach, ^u15and to have authority to ^vdrive out demons.

¹⁶He appointed the Twelve: ^wx

To Simon, ^yHe gave the name Peter; ^z

¹⁷and to James ^athe son of Zebedee, ^b

and to his brother John, ^c

He gave the name “Boanerges”

(that is, “Sons of Thunder” ^d);

¹⁸Andrew; ^e

Philip ^fand Bartholomew;

Matthew ^gand Thomas; ^h

James the son of Alphaeus,

and Thaddaeus;

Simon the Zealot, ⁱ

¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, ^jk

who also betrayed Him.

A House Divided

²⁰Then He went home, and the crowd gathered again so that they were not even able to eat. ^l21When His family ^mheard this, they set out to restrain Him, because they said, “He’s out of His mind.” ⁿ

²²The scribes ^owho had come down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul ^pin Him!” and, “He drives out ^qdemons ^rby the ruler ^sof the demons!” ^t

²³So He summoned ^uthem and spoke to them in parables: ^v“How can Satan ^wdrive out Satan? ^x24If a kingdom ^yis divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. ²⁶And if Satan rebels against himself and is divided, he cannot stand but is finished! ^z

²⁷“On the other hand, no one can enter a strong man’s house and rob his possessions unless he first ties up ^athe strong man. Then he will rob his house. ^28•I assure you: People will be forgiven for all sins ^band whatever blasphemies ^cthey may blaspheme. ²⁹But whoever blasphemes ^dagainst the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, ^ebut is ^•guilty ^fof an eternal sin” ^gh— ³⁰because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” ⁱ