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."