Mark 3:7–30

⁷But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, ^gand from Judea ⁸and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how ^hmany things He was doing, came to Him. ⁹So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him. ¹⁰For He healed ⁱmany, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to ^jtouch Him. ^11kAnd the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, ^l“You are the Son of God.” ¹²But ^mHe sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.

Selection of the Twelve

Luke 6:12–16

¹³ⁿAnd He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. ¹⁴Then He appointed twelve, ⁴that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, ¹⁵and to have ⁵power ⁶to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: ¹⁶⁷Simon, ^oto whom He gave the name Peter; ¹⁷James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, “Sons of Thunder”; ¹⁸Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. And they went into a house.

Opposition of His Friends

²⁰Then the multitude came together again, ^pso that they could not so much as eat bread. ²¹But when His ^qown people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, ^rfor they said, “He is out of His mind.”

Scribes Commit the Unpardonable Sin

Matt. 12:24–32; Luke 11:17–23

²²And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, ^s“He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ^truler of the demons He casts out demons.”

^23uSo He called them to Himself 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 cannot stand. ²⁶And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. ^27vNo one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.

^28w“Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; ²⁹but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”—³⁰because they ^xsaid, “He has an unclean spirit.”