7 aJesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and ba great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea,

8 and from Jerusalem, and from aIdumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of bTyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him.

9 aAnd He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him;

10 for He had ahealed many, with the result that all those who had bafflictions pressed around Him in order to ctouch Him.

11 Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are athe Son of God!”

12 And He aearnestly warned them not to 1tell who He was.

The Twelve Are Chosen

13 And He * went up on athe mountain and * bsummoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him.

14 And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach,

15 and to have authority to cast out the demons.

16 And He appointed the twelve: aSimon (to whom He gave the name Peter),

17 and 1James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of 1James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”);

18 and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and 1James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the 2Zealot;

19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.

20 And He * came 1ahome, and the bcrowd * gathered again, cto such an extent that they could not even eat 2a meal.

21 When aHis own 1people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “bHe has lost His senses.”

22 The scribes who came down afrom Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by 1bBeelzebul,” and “cHe casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”

23 aAnd He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in bparables, “How can cSatan cast out Satan?

24 “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

25 “If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

26 “If aSatan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but 1he is finished!

27 “aBut no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

28 “aTruly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter;

29 but awhoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—

30 because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

31 aThen His mother and His brothers * arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him.

32 A crowd was sitting around Him, and they * said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.”

33 Answering them, He * said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?”

34 Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He * said, “aBehold My mother and My brothers!

35 “For whoever adoes the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”