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Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

^1 (C1)He ^(C2)entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered.^2 (C1)They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, ^(C2)so that they might accuse Him.³ He ^(*)said to the man with the withered hand, "^(F1)Get up and come forward!"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.⁵ After ^(C1)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.⁶ The Pharisees went out and immediately began ^(F1)conspiring with the ^(C1)Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

^7 (C1)Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and ^(C2)a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea,⁸ and from Jerusalem, and from ^(C1)Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of ^(C2)Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him.^9 (C1)And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him;¹⁰ for He had ^(C1)healed many, with the result that all those who had ^(C2)afflictions pressed around Him in order to ^(C3)touch Him.¹¹ Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, "You are ^(C1)the Son of God!"¹² And He ^(C1)earnestly warned them not to ^(F1)tell who He was.

The Twelve Are Chosen

¹³ And He ^(*)went up on ^(C1)the mountain and ^(*)(C2)summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him.¹⁴ And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach,¹⁵ and to have authority to cast out the demons.¹⁶ And He appointed the twelve: ^(C1)Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter),¹⁷ and ^(F1)James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of ^(F1)James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, "Sons of Thunder");¹⁸ and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and ^(F1)James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the ^(F2)Zealot;¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.

²⁰ And He ^(*)came ^(F1)(C1)home, and the ^(C2)crowd ^(*)gathered again, ^(C3)to such an extent that they could not even eat ^(F2)a meal.²¹ When ^(C1)His own ^(F1)people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "^(C2)He has lost His senses."²² The scribes who came down ^(C1)from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by ^(F1)(C2)Beelzebul," and "^(C3)He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons."^23 (C1)And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in ^(C2)parables, "How can ^(C3)Satan 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 ^(C1)Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but ^(F1)he is finished!²⁷ "^(C1)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.

²⁸ "^(C1)Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter;²⁹ but ^(C1)whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"--³⁰ because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

^31 (C1)Then His mother and His brothers ^(*)arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him.³² A crowd was sitting around Him, and they ^(*)said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You."³³ Answering them, He ^(*)said, "Who are My mother and My brothers?"³⁴ Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He ^(*)said, "^(C1)Behold My mother and My brothers!³⁵ "For whoever ^(C1)does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother."