3:1 He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered. |
3:2 They were watching Him {to see} if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. |
3:3 He *said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and come forward!" |
3:4 And 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." |
3:5 After looking 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." |
3:6 The Pharisees went out and immediately {began} conspiring with the Herodians against Him, {as to} how they might destroy Him. |
3:7 Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and {also} from Judea, |
3:8 and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. |
3:9 And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; |
3:10 for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him. |
3:11 Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, "You are the Son of God!" |
3:12 And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was. |
3:13 And He *went up on the mountain and *summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. |
3:14 And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He {could} send them out to preach, |
3:15 and to have authority to cast out the demons. |
3:16 And He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter), |
3:17 and James, the {son} of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, "Sons of Thunder);" |
3:18 and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot; |
3:19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him. |
3:20 And He *came home, and the crowd *gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. |
3:21 When His own people heard {of this,} they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "He has lost His senses." |
3:22 The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by Beelzebul, and "He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons."" |
3:23 And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan? |
3:24 "If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. |
3:25 "If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. |
3:26 "If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished! |
3:27 "But 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. |
3:28 "Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; |
3:29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin--" |
3:30 because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit." |
3:31 Then His mother and His brothers *arrived, and standing outside they sent {word} to Him and called Him. |
3:32 A crowd was sitting around Him, and they *said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You." |
3:33 Answering them, He *said, "Who are My mother and My brothers?" |
3:34 Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He *said, "Behold My mother and My brothers! |
3:35 "For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother." |