1   On another occasion when he went to synagogue, there was a man in the congregation who had a withered arm; 2   and they were watching to see whether Jesus would cure him on the Sabbath, so that they could bring a charge against him. 3   He said to the man with the withered arm, ‘Come and stand out here.’ 4   Then he turned to them: ‘Is it permitted to do good or to do evil on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill?’ 5   They had nothing to say; and, looking round at them with anger and sorrow at their obstinate stupidity, he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your arm.’ He stretched it out and his arm was restored. 6   But the Pharisees, on leaving the synagogue, began plotting against him with the partisans of Herod to see how they could make away with him.

7   Jesus went away to the lake-side with his disciples. Great numbers from Galilee, 8   Judaea and Jerusalem, Idumaea and Transjordan, and the neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon, heard what he was doing and came to see him. 9   So he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him, to save him from being crushed by the crowd. 10   For he cured so many that sick people of all kinds came crowding in upon him to touch him. 11   The unclean spirits too, when they saw him, would fall at his feet and cry aloud, ‘You are the Son of God’; 12   but he insisted that they should not make him known.

13   He then went up into the hill-country and called the men he wanted; and they went and joined him. 14   He appointed twelve as his companions, 15   whom he would send out to proclaim the Gospel, with a commission to drive out devils. 16   So he appointed the Twelve: to Simon he gave the name Peter; 17   then came the sons of Zebedee, James and his brother John, to whom he gave the name Boanerges, Sons of Thunder; 18   then Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas and James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus and Simon, 19   a member of the Zealot party, and Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed him.

20   He entered a house; and once more such a crowd collected round them that they had no chance to eat. 21   When his family heard of this, they set out to take charge of him; for people were saying that he was out of his mind. ^note

In Galilee: success and opposition

22   The doctors of the law, too, who had come down from Jerusalem, said, ‘He is possessed by Beelzebub’, and, ‘He drives out devils by the prince of devils.’ 23   So he called them to come forward, and spoke to them in parables: ‘How can Satan drive out Satan? 24   If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand; 25   if a household is divided against itself, that house will never stand; and if Satan is in rebellion against himself, 26   he is divided and cannot stand; and that is the end of him.

27   ‘On the other hand, no one can break into a strong man's house and make off with his goods unless he has first tied the strong man up; then he can ransack the house.

28   ‘I tell you this: no sin, no slander, is beyond forgiveness for men; but whoever slanders the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven; 29   he is guilty of eternal sin.’ 30   He said this because they had declared that he was possessed by an unclean spirit.

31   Then his mother and his brothers arrived, and remaining outside sent in a message asking him to come out to them. 32   A crowd was sitting round and word was brought to him: ‘Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.’ 33   He replied, ‘Who is my mother? 34   Who are my brothers?’ And looking round at those who were sitting in the circle about him he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. 35   Whoever does the will of God is my brother, my sister, my mother.’

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