Mark 2–3

Chapter 2

The Paralytic Healed

¹When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.

²And ^amany were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.

^3aAnd they came, bringing to Him a ^bparalytic, carried by four men.

⁴Being unable to ¹get to Him because of the crowd, they ^aremoved the roof ²above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the ^bparalytic was lying.

⁵And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “¹Son, ^ayour sins are forgiven.”

⁶But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,

⁷“Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; ^awho can forgive sins ¹but God alone?”

⁸Immediately Jesus, aware ¹in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?

⁹“Which is easier, to say to the ^aparalytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’?

¹⁰“But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic,

¹¹“I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.”

¹²And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and ^awere glorifying God, saying, “^bWe have never seen anything like this.”

¹³And He went out again by the seashore; and ^aall the ¹people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.

Levi (Matthew) Called

^14aAs He passed by, He saw ^1bLevi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “^cFollow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

¹⁵And it ¹happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and ²sinners ³were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him.

¹⁶When ^athe scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “^bWhy is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and ¹sinners?”

¹⁷And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “^aIt is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

^18aJohn’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came and said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁹And Jesus said to them, “While the bridegroom is with them, ¹the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

²⁰“But the ^adays will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

²¹“No one sews ¹a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise ²the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results.

²²“No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”

Question of the Sabbath

^23aAnd it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while ^bpicking the heads of grain.

²⁴The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, ^awhy are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

²⁵And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry;

²⁶how he entered the house of God in the time of ^aAbiathar the high priest, and ate the ¹consecrated bread, which ^bis not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?”

²⁷Jesus said to them, “^aThe Sabbath ¹was made ²for man, and ^bnot man for the Sabbath.

²⁸“So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Chapter 3

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

^1aHe ^bentered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered.

^2aThey were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, ^bso that they might accuse Him.

³He said to the man with the withered hand, “¹Get up and come forward!”

⁴And He said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent.

⁵After ^alooking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

⁶The Pharisees went out and immediately began ¹conspiring with the ^aHerodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

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

⁸and 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.

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

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

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

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

The Twelve Are Chosen

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

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

¹⁵and to have authority to cast out the demons.

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

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

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

¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.

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

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

²²The 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.”

^23aAnd 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;

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

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

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

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

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

³⁴Looking 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.”