Mark 3
1 He went into the synagogue again, and a person who had an atrophied hand was there. 2 The Phariseesa were watching Jesusb to see whether he would heal the personc on Shabbat.
3 He said to the person who had an atrophied hand, “Stand in the middle.”
4 He said to the Pharisees,d “Is it allowed on Shabbat to do something beneficial or to do something harmful, to save a life or to kill?” However, they remained silent.
5 After looking around at them with anger, being grieved by their heartlessness,e he said to the person, “Reach out your hand.” The personf reached out, and his hand was restored.
6 Straightaway after leaving, the Pharisees met with the Herodians to plan how they could destroyg him.
7 Jesus went back to the sea with his students, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. Also, from Judea, 8 Jerusalem, Idumea,h the area east of the Jordan River, and around Tyre and Sidon, a large crowd came to him when they heard about all the things he did. 9 He told his students to have a small boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not tramplei him. 10 You see, he healed many people, so whoever had afflictionsj threw themselves atk him so they might hold onto him. 11 Also, whenever unclean spirit-breaths noticed him, they threw themselves down in front of himl and cried out, “You are the Son of God!”m 12 and he reprimanded them repeatedly not to make him conspicuous.n
13 Jesus went up the mountain and called for those he wanted, and they went to him. 14 He designated twelve that he named as emissaries,o so they would be with him and so he could send them to be heralds 15 and to have authority to drive out demons. 16 He conferred the name ‘Peter’ to Simeon, 17 and he conferred the name ‘Boanerges’ (which means ‘Sons of Thunder’) to the Jacobp who was Zebedee’s son and to John who was Jacob’s brother. 18 He also designated Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew,q Matthew, Thomas, the Jacob who was Alphaeus’ son, Thaddaeus, the Simeon who was zealous,r 19 and Judah “The Man of Kerioth”s who is the one who handed him over.
20 Jesust went home, and again a crowd gathered, resulting in them not being able to eat their food. 21 When his familyu heard, they went out and grabbed him,v because they said, “He’s out of his mind!”
22 The Bible scholarsw who had come downx from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul!”y and “He drives out demons with the leader of demons!”
23 After calling them over, he spoke to them with parables: “How is the Adversaryz able to drive out the Adversary? 24 If a regimeaa is divided against itself, that regime won’t be able to stand. 25 If a dynastybb is divided against itself, that dynasty won’t be able to stand. 26 And if the Adversary has stood up against himself and divided, he is not able to stand but has met his end. 27 However, no one is able to go into the house of someone strong to rob their belongings unless they first tie up the strong one and then rob the house. 28 Honestly, I’m telling you that all acts of deviationcc will be dismisseddd for the childrenee of humanity—even slanderous accusationsff if they make slanderous accusations— 29 but whoever makes a slanderous accusation against the Sacred Life-breath will not receive dismissal throughout the Age, but is liable for an act of agelong deviation 30 (because they said, ‘He has an unclean spirit-breath’).”
31 Jesusgg’ mother and siblingshh came, and while they stood outside, they sent someone to him to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Look! Your mother and your brothers and sistersii are outside looking for you.”
33 He answered, “Who are my mother and my siblings?” 34 Then, after looking around at the people sitting in a circle around him, he said, “Here are my mother and siblings! 35 You see, whoever does what God wants is my brother and my sister and my mother.”
FOOTNOTES:
a Literally, ‘they.’ It is referring to the Pharisees identified in Mark 2:24.
b Literally, ‘him’
c Literally, ‘him’
d Literally, ‘they.’ It is referring to the Pharisees identified in Mark 2:24.
e Or ‘callousness of their hearts’ or ‘numbness of their hearts’
f Literally, ‘he’
g Or ‘kill utterly’ or ‘wipe out’ or ‘eradicate’
h ‘Idumea’ was the name of Roman province to the south of Judea named after the people of Edom, the descendants of Jacob’s brother. King Herod was half Idumean.
i Or ‘press in on’ or ‘crush’
j Literally ‘whips’ or ‘goads/prods,’ whether for controlling animals or punishing people. Perhaps used in this way would refer to chronic pain, but it is unclear.
k Or ‘fell upon’
l Bowing with face to the ground in submission
m “The Son of God” was a nickname for the emperor, a title taken on originally by Augustus Caesar, the son of Julius Caesar who was worshiped as divine, and was then used by each subsequent Caesar. To use it in application to Jesus was an explicitly political challenge to the lordship of Caesar. It would have been a dangerous statement to make publicly.
n Or ‘exposed’ or ‘for all to see’ or ‘revealed’ or ‘highlighted/spotlighted’
o Traditionally, ‘apostles.’ The word means ‘someone who is sent to carry out a purpose’ and while it became used in a particular way in the church, it was not an inherently religious word in the Greek language.
p Traditionally, ‘James.’ However, the Greek word is ‘Jacob,’ the same as is translated as Jacob anywhere that name appears.
q Bartholomew (which means “Son of Tolmai” in Aramaic) could be another name for Nathanael mentioned in John 1:45.
r Many translations render this as “Simon the Zealot” implying he was a member of the militant, revolutionary movement known as the Zealots. However, the movement by that name did not exist as such until the First Jewish-Roman War of 66-73 CE.
s Traditionally, ‘Iscariot.’ It was likely not his name, however. It means ‘men of Kerioth’ which was a city of Moab that was condemned for its actions against Israel, and it was likely used as a label regarding his betrayal of Jesus. See Jeremiah 48:21-47 (especially verses 21-27).
t The name is added for clarity.
u Or ‘his own people’ or ‘friends’ or ‘the people with him’
v Or ‘seized him’ or ‘restrained him’
w Traditionally, ‘experts in the Law (meaning the Torah)’ or ‘scribes.’ It literally means someone who studied and wrote documents, and the documents in view for these scribes were the Hebrew scriptures (or the Greek translations of the Hebrew scriptures).
x No matter the starting point, going to Jerusalem is always described as ‘going up’ in scripture. It’s not about location on the map or elevation; it’s about it having the highest spiritual and religious significance.
y ‘Beelzebul’ is the Greek version of Baal-Zebub in 2 Kings 1:2-3, 6, 16. It literally means “Master of the house” or “Master of the dynasty’ (oikos is typically translated ‘house’ but can mean a house structure or the people living as a household or a dynasty established by a ruler, such as ‘the house of David.’) Baal-Zebub was the god of Ekron, but likely not the name the residents of Ekron used. It seems to be a mocking term the Israelites used against Baal, which is why it made sense to use it as a derogatory name against Jesus if others believed him to be a false prophet.
z The word Satanas was not a name. It is the Greek version of the Hebrew word shatan, which meant ‘adversary’ in the sense of prosecutor or opponent. It carries the meaning of someone who is against another, trying to sabotage their efforts and their wellbeing, and against someone as a plaintiff in court. It is an enemy, but also someone accusing another of wrongdoing, whether truly or falsely. It’s not just about pointing out something bad, but actively moving to cause adversity for someone else. The concept of Ha Shatan in the Hebrew Bible was not the evil archnemesis of God that Christian teaching has turned it into. It was described as a member of the council of spiritual beings whose role was to test people to see how genuine they were. The clearest example of this is in the book of Job.
aa Traditionally, ‘kingdom’ but it’s not about a place but rather the ones reigning.
bb Or ‘house’ or ‘household’
cc The word in Greek here is hamartia, traditionally translated ‘sin.’ The actual meaning is an archery term for missing the target; it’s a metaphor. The idea is not that it is bad behavior or rule breaking. The word torah is the noun version of the Hebrew verb for ‘shoot’ an arrow and ‘send’ instruction. Hamartia is veering off course, the course traced out by Torah that leads to New Creation/God’s Reign/The Great Jubilee-Shabbat.
dd Traditionally, ‘forgiven.’ This is the same word used in Matthew 5 for wives out of the home and in Matthew six for releasing claim to debt owed. It carries the idea of sending away or releasing. ‘Dismissed’ here seems to capture a faithful rendering of the word along with the effect of disregarding the past and invalidating any potential future claim for recompense as barriers to full inclusion in the sacred community.
ee Literally, ‘sons’
ff Traditionally, ‘blasphemy’ from the Greek verb blasphemeo. The Greek word means something like ‘slander’ or ‘defame’ or ‘belittle.’ The word ‘slander’ in English literally means a negative assertion about someone that is false. It is translated here as ‘slanderous accusations’ to emphasize what it is saying.
gg The name is added for clarity.
hh Or ‘brothers.’ The Greek word adelphoi can mean a group of male siblings or a mixed gender group of siblings.
ii Some Greek manuscripts have ‘and your sisters’ added. It seems to be a later addition clarifying and reconciling it with verse 35.