Mar 3 | ESV | STEP | Again he entered the synagogue , and a man was there with a withered hand .

1 ^aAgain ^bhe entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. 2 And ^cthey watched Jesus, ^{▼▼Greek him} to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” 4 And he said to them, ^e“Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5 And he ^flooked around at them with anger, grieved at ^gtheir hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” ^hHe stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 ⁱThe Pharisees went out and immediately ^jheld counsel with ^kthe Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

A Great Crowd Follows Jesus

7 ^lJesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and ^ma great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and ⁿIdumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around ^oTyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to ^phave a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they ^qcrush him, 10 for ^rhe had healed many, so that all who had ^sdiseases pressed around him ^tto touch him. 11 ^uAnd whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they ^vfell down before him and cried out, “You are ^wthe Son of God.” 12 And ^xhe strictly ordered them not to make him known.

The Twelve Apostles

13 ^yAnd he went up on the mountain and called to him those ^zwhom he desired, and they came to him. 14 ^aaAnd he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 ^aband have authority to cast out demons. 16 He appointed the twelve: ^acSimon (to whom ^adhe gave the name Peter); 17 ^aeJames the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and ^afMatthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, ^{▼▼Greek kananaios, meaning zealot} 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

20 Then he went ^ahhome, and the crowd gathered again, ^aiso that they could not even eat. 21 ^ajAnd when ^akhis family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He ^alis out of his mind.”

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

22 And ^amthe scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, ^an“He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” 23 ^aoAnd he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But ^apno one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. ^aqThen indeed he may plunder his house.

28 ^ar“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever ^asblasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers

31 ^atAnd his mother and his ^aubrothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers ^{▼▼Other early manuscripts add and your sisters} are outside, seeking you.” 33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And ^awlooking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 ^axFor whoever ^aydoes the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”