Mark 3 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Jesus went into the synagogue again, and a man was there with a withered hand.

People were watching Jesus closely to see if he would heal the man on the Sabbath — they were looking for a reason to accuse him.

He said to the man with the withered hand, "Stand up and come to the center."

Then he asked them, "Which is allowed on the Sabbath — doing good or doing harm? Saving a life or killing?" But they said nothing.

He looked around at them with anger, deeply grieved by how hard their hearts had become. Then he told the man, "Stretch out your hand." The man stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.

The Pharisees left immediately and began plotting with the Herodians about how they could destroy Jesus.

Jesus pulled back to the lake with his followers, and a huge crowd followed him from Galilee.

People also came from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, the region across the Jordan, and the area around Tyre and Sidon. This massive crowd came because they kept hearing about everything he was doing.

He told his followers to have a small boat ready for him so the crowd wouldn't crush him.

He had healed so many people that everyone with diseases was pushing forward to touch him.

And whenever unclean spirits saw him, they would fall down in front of him and shout, "You are the Son of God!"

But he gave them strict orders not to reveal who he was.

Jesus went up on the mountain and called the ones he wanted, and they came to him.

He appointed twelve — he called them 'sent-out ones' — to be with him, and so he could send them out to preach

and to have authority to drive out demons.

He appointed the twelve: Simon, whom he named Peter;

James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James — he named them Boanerges, which means "Sons of Thunder";

Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot,

and Judas Iscariot — the one who later handed him over.

Then Jesus went home, and again such a large crowd gathered that they couldn't even eat a meal.

When his family heard about all this, they went out to take charge of him, because they were saying, "He's lost his mind."

The legal experts who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, "He's possessed by Beelzebul!" and "He drives out demons by the ruler of demons."

So Jesus called them over and spoke to them in comparisons: "How can Satan drive out Satan?"

If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom can't survive.

If a household is divided against itself, that household can't hold together.

And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he can't survive — his end has come.

In fact, nobody can break into a strong man's house and steal his stuff unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can clean out the house.

I'm telling you the truth: people can be forgiven for everything — all their failures and all the offensive things they say against God.

But whoever speaks against the Breath of God will never be forgiven — they are guilty of a failure with no release, ever."

He said this because they were claiming, "He has an unclean spirit."

Then his mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside and sent someone in to call him.

A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Hey — your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you."

He replied, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?"

Then he looked at the people sitting in a circle around him and said, "Here — these are my mother and my brothers!"

"Whoever does what God wants — that person is my brother, my sister, and my mother."