Mark 2 - 3 — Legacy Standard Bible

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

2And when He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. ²And ^amany were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. ³^aAnd they *came, bringing to Him a ^bparalytic, carried by four men. ⁴And being unable to bring him to ¹Jesus because of the crowd, they ^aremoved the roof over where He was; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the mat where the ^bparalytic was lying. ⁵And Jesus seeing their faith *said to the paralytic, “Child, ^ayour sins are forgiven.” ⁶But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, ⁷“Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; ^awho can forgive sins ¹but God alone?” ⁸Immediately Jesus, aware ¹in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, *said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? ⁹“Which is easier, to say to the ^aparalytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your mat and walk’? ¹⁰“But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He *said to the paralytic, ¹¹“I say to you, get up, pick up your mat, and go to your home.” ¹²And he got up and immediately picked up the mat and went out before everyone, so that they were all amazed and ^awere glorifying God, saying, “^bWe have never seen anything like this.”

¹³And He went out again by the seashore; and ^athe entire crowd was coming to Him, and He was teaching them.

Levi and Sinners Called

¹⁴^aAnd as He passed by, He saw ¹^,^bLevi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He *said to him, “^cFollow Me!” And he stood up and followed Him.

¹⁵And it *¹happened that as He was reclining at the table in his house, many tax collectors and ²sinners ³were reclining with Jesus and His disciples. For there were many of them, and they were following Him. ¹⁶And when ^athe scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they were saying to His disciples, “^bHe is eating and drinking with tax collectors and ¹sinners!” ¹⁷And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “^aThose who are healthy do not have need for a physician, but only those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

¹⁸^aAnd John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they *came and *said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹And Jesus said to them, “Can ¹the attendants of the bridegroom fast when the bridegroom is with them? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰“But the ^adays will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

²¹“No one sews ¹a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise ²that patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. ²²“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”

Lord of the Sabbath

²³^aAnd it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while ^bpicking the heads of grain. ²⁴And the Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, ^awhy are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵And He *said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; ²⁶how he entered the house of God around the time of ^aAbiathar the high priest, and ate the ¹consecrated bread, which ^bis not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷And Jesus was saying to them, “^aThe Sabbath ¹was made ²for man, and ^bnot man ³for the Sabbath. ²⁸“Consequently the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Jesus Heals a Man on the Sabbath

3^aAnd He ^bentered again into a synagogue; and a man was there with a withered hand. ²^aAnd they were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, ^bso that they might accuse Him. ³And He *said to the man with the withered hand, “¹Get up and come forward!” ⁴And 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. ⁵And after ^alooking 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. ⁶And the Pharisees went out and immediately began taking counsel together with the ^aHerodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

⁷^aAnd Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and ^ba great multitude from Galilee followed; and from Judea, ⁸and from Jerusalem, and from ^aIdumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of ^bTyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. ⁹^aAnd He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; ¹⁰for He had ^ahealed many, with the result that all those who had ^bafflictions pressed around Him in order to ^ctouch Him. ¹¹And whenever the unclean spirits were seeing Him, they would fall down before Him and cry out, saying, “You are ^athe Son of God!” ¹²And He ^aearnestly warned them not to ¹tell who He was.

Jesus Appoints the Twelve

¹³And He *went up on ^athe mountain and *^bsummoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. ¹⁴And He appointed twelve ¹(whom He also named apostles) to be with Him and to send them out to preach, ¹⁵and to have authority to cast out the demons. ¹⁶And He appointed the twelve: ^aSimon (to whom He gave the name Peter), ¹⁷and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name 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 ¹Zealot; ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

²⁰And He *came ¹^,^ahome, and the ^bcrowd *gathered again, ^cso that they could not even eat ²a meal. ²¹And when ^aHis own ¹people heard this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “^bHe has lost His senses.” ²²And the scribes who came down ^afrom Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by ¹^,^bBeelzebul,” and “^cHe casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” ²³^aAnd He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in ^bparables, “How can ^cSatan cast out Satan? ²⁴“And 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 ^aSatan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but ¹he is finished! ²⁷“^aBut 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“^aTruly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; ²⁹but ^awhoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

³¹^aThen His mother and His brothers *arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him, calling Him. ³²And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they *said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” ³³And answering them, He *said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” ³⁴And looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He *said, “^aBehold My mother and My brothers! ³⁵“For whoever ^adoes the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”