¹Then he went into the synagogue again, and there was a man with a withered hand there. ²Now they watched him closely, to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath, in order to accuse him. ³And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up to centre stage.” ⁴And he said to them, “Is it permitted to do good or evil on the Sabbath? To save a life or to kill?” But they remained silent. ⁵Then he looked around at them with anger, thoroughly grieved at the hardness of their heart, and he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored, healthy like the other one. ⁶Then the Pharisees immediately went out with the Herodians and took counsel against him, as to how they might destroy him. ⁷Meanwhile Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a very large number of people followed him, from Galilee and from Judaea, ⁸and from Jerusalem and from Idumaea and across the Jordan, while those from around Tyre and Sidon – a large community who had heard everything he was doing – came to him. ⁹So he told his disciples that a small boat should remain at hand for him on account of the crowd, so that they should not press on him, ¹⁰for he had healed many people, and as a result they converged on him in order that whoever had infirmities might touch him. ¹¹Also whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they would fall down before him and shout out saying, “You are the son of God”, ¹²and he would rebuke them sharply so that they should not make him manifest. ¹³Then he went up into a mountain and called along those whom he himself wanted, and they went off to him, ¹⁴and he appointed twelve, for them to be with him, and to send them to preach, ¹⁵and to have authority to cure sicknesses and to cast out demons. ¹⁶And he gave an additional name to Simon: Peter. ¹⁷Furthermore he appointed James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, and he gave them additional names: Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”, ¹⁸and Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas and James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus and Simon the Kananite, ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who for his part betrayed him. Then they went into a house, ²⁰and again a crowd gathered, so that they could not even eat bread. ²¹And when those close to him heard about it, they went out to take charge of him, for people were saying that he had gone out of his senses. ²²Now the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said that he was possessed by Beelzebul, and that he cast out the demons by the ruler of the demons. ²³So he called them to himself and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴And if 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 is finished. ²⁷No-one can plunder the goods of a strong man, after entering his house, unless he first binds the strong man, and then he can plunder his house. ²⁸Truly, I say to you that the sons of men will be forgiven all their sins and whatever blasphemies they perpetrate, ²⁹but whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit does not have forgiveness throughout the age, but is liable to age-abiding judgment.” ³⁰He said this because they said, “He is possessed by an unclean spirit.” ³¹Then his brothers and mother came and stood outside and sent men to him, calling him. ³²Meanwhile a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Excuse us, but your mother and your brothers and your sisters outside are looking for you.” ³³Then he replied to them and said, “Who is my mother or my brothers?” ³⁴Then after he had looked around at those sitting around him, he said, “Behold my mother and my brothers. ³⁵For it is whoever does the will of God who is my brother, and my sister, and my mother.”