MaRk 4 1143 i sees went out and be gan to plot with the He ro di ans how they might kill Jesus .
Crowds Follow Jesus
7 Jesus with drew with his dis ci ples to
the lake , and a large crowd from Gal i lee fol lowed . 8 When they heard about all he was do ing , many peo ple came to him from Ju dea , Je ru sa lem , Id u mea , and the re gions across the Jor dan and around Tyre and Si don . 9 Be cause of the crowd he told his dis ci ples to have a small boat ready for him , to keep the peo ple from crowd ing him . 10 For he had healed many , so that those with dis eas es were push ing for ward to touch him . 11 When ev er the im pure spir its saw him , they fell down be fore him and cried out , “ You are the Son of God .”
12 But he gave them strict or ders not to tell
oth ers about him .
Jesus Appoints the Twelve
13 Jesus went up on a moun tain side and
called to him those he want ed , and they came to him . 14 He ap point ed twelve a that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have author i ty to drive out de mons . 16 These are the twelve he ap point ed : Si mon ( to whom he gave the name Pe ter ), 17 James son of Zeb e dee and his broth er John ( to them he gave the name Bo a ner ges , which means “ sons of thun der ”), 18 An drew , Phil ip , Barthol o mew , Mat thew , Thom as , James son of Al phae us , Thad dae us , Si mon the Zealot 19 and Ju das Is car i ot , who be trayed him . dom is di vid ed against it self , that kingdom can not stand . 25 If a house is di vid ed against it self , that house can not stand .
26 And if Sa tan op pos es him self and is divid ed , he can not stand ; his end has come .
27 In fact , no one can en ter a strong man ’ s
house with out first ty ing him up . Then he can plun der the strong man ’ s house .
28 Tru ly I tell you , peo ple can be for giv en
all their sins and every slan der they utter , 29 but who ev er blas phemes against the Holy Spir it will nev er be for giv en ; they are guilty of an eter nal sin .”
30 He said this be cause they were say ing ,
“ He has an im pure spir it .”
31 Then Jesus ’ moth er and broth ers arrived . Stand ing out side , they sent someone in to call him . 32 A crowd was sit ting around him , and they told him , “ Your moth er and broth ers are out side look ing for you .”
33 “ Who are my moth er and my brothers ?” he asked .
34 Then he looked at those seat ed in
a cir cle around him and said , “ Here are my moth er and my broth ers ! 35 Who ev er does God ’ s will is my broth er and sis ter and moth er .”
The Parable of the Sower
4Again Jesus be gan to teach by the lake . The crowd that gath ered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake , while all the peo ple were along the shore at the wa ter ’ s edge . 2 He taught them many things by par a bles , and in his teach ing said : 3 “ Lis ten ! A farm er went out to sow his seed . 4 As he was scat tering the seed , some fell along the path , and the birds came and ate it up . 5 Some fell on rocky plac es , where it did not have much soil . It sprang up quick ly , be cause the soil was shal low . 6 But when the sun came up , the plants were scorched , and they withered be cause they had no root . 7 Oth er seed fell among thorns , which grew up and choked the plants , so that they did not bear grain . 8 Still oth er seed fell on good soil . It came up , grew and pro duced
Jesus Accused by His Family and by Teachers of the Law
20 Then Jesus en tered a house , and again
a crowd gath ered , so that he and his dis ciples were not even able to eat . 21 When his fam i ly b heard about this , they went to take charge of him , for they said , “ He is out of his mind .”
22 And the teach ers of the law who came
down from Je ru sa lem said , “ He is possessed by Be el ze bul ! By the prince of demons he is driv ing out de mons .”
23 So Jesus called them over to him and
be gan to speak to them in par a bles : “ How can Sa tan drive out Sa tan ? 24 If a kinga 14 Some manuscripts twelve — designating them apostles — b 21 Or his associates