Mark 3 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Around AD 28, during Jesus' Galilean ministry under the rule of Herod Antipas
Location
A synagogue in Capernaum, then the shore of the Sea of Galilee, then a hillside and a house in the same region
Audience
Gentile Christians facing suspicion and pressure, taught to expect that following Jesus divides families
Situation
Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath and his opponents begin plotting to kill him. He then withdraws to the lake, appoints twelve men as a formal inner circle, and is accused by scribes from Jerusalem of casting out demons by the power of Satan.
Key Background
Jewish teachers agreed that saving a life overrode the Sabbath rest, but a withered hand was a long-standing condition that could have waited a day, which is what made the healing a deliberate test case. The Pharisees and the Herodians, mentioned here as plotting together, were natural enemies: one group wanted stricter religious observance, the other backed Herod Antipas and Roman arrangements, so their alliance shows how seriously both took the threat. Choosing exactly twelve men echoed the twelve tribes of Israel and read as a claim to be reconstituting the nation, not merely gathering students.
Jesus went into the again, and a man was there with a hand.
People were Jesus to see if he would heal the man on the — they were looking for a reason to accuse him.
He said to the man with the withered hand, up and to the
Then he asked them, "Which is on the Sabbath — doing good or doing harm? Saving a life or killing?" But they
He looked around at them with by how their had Then he told the man, "Stretch out your hand." The man stretched it out, and his hand was
The left immediately and began plotting with the about how they could Jesus.
Jesus to the lake with his and a huge crowd followed him from Galilee.
People also came from Judea, Jerusalem, the region across the Jordan, and the area around and This massive crowd came because they kept hearing about everything he was doing.
He told his followers to have a ready for him so the crowd wouldn't crush him.
He had healed so many people that everyone with was to
And whenever saw him, they would fall down in front of him and shout, "You are the of
But he gave them not to who he was.
Jesus up on the and the ones he wanted, and they came to him.
He twelve — he called them — to be with and so he could send them out to
and to have to out
He appointed the twelve: whom he named
James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James — he named them which means "Sons of Thunder";
Andrew, Philip, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the
and Judas — the one who later
Then Jesus and again such a large crowd gathered that they a
When heard about all this, they went out to of because they were saying, "He's
The who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, "He's possessed by and "He drives out by the of
So Jesus called them over and spoke to them in "How can drive out
If a is divided against itself, that can't survive.
If a is divided against itself, that can't hold together.
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he can't survive — his has
In fact, nobody can break into a man's and steal his stuff unless he first up the Then he can out the
I'm you the people can be forgiven for everything — all their and all the they
But whoever speaks against the of will never be forgiven — they are guilty of a with no
He this they were claiming, "He has an unclean spirit."
Then his mother and arrived. They and sent someone in to call him.
A crowd was and they told "Hey — your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you."
He replied, "Who is my Who are my
Then he at the people sitting in a circle around him and said, "Here — these are my mother and my brothers!"
"Whoever does what — that person is my my and my