Mark 3

What happens: In the synagogue Yeshua heals a man with a withered hand on the sabbath, first asking, "Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?" The Perushim (Pharisees) join with the Herodians to plot his destruction. He withdraws to the sea, where great crowds come from all directions; he heals many, and the unclean spirits cry, "You are the Son of God," but he orders them to be silent. On a mountain he appoints twelve to be with him and to be sent out — Shimon (renamed Kefa), the sons of Zavdai (named "sons of thunder"), and the rest, ending with Yehudah Ish-Keriot. When his own family thinks he is beside himself, and scribes from Jerusalem say he casts out demons by Beelzevul, he answers in parables: "How can the Satan cast out the Satan?" A divided kingdom or house cannot stand; the strong one must first be bound. He warns that blasphemy against the holy wind/spirit has no forgiveness. Told his mother and brothers are outside, he says, "Whoever does the will of God, this one is my brother and sister and mother."

Key themes: Sabbath as the arena of "doing good"; the first plot to kill (3:6); the messianic secret extended to the demons' confession; the constitution of the Twelve as a new core; the Beelzevul controversy and "a kingdom/house divided"; binding the strong one; the warning about blasphemy against the holy wind/spirit; family redefined around the will of God.

Watch for: The unclean spirits' "You are the Son of God" (3:11) is not marked as divine speech — they are not God or Yeshua. The list of the Twelve carries TT transliterations (Kefa, Bar-Talmai, Mattai, Toma, etc.); "Boanerges" is glossed in-text as "sons of thunder," as Mark himself glosses it. "Blasphemy against the holy wind/spirit" (3:29) keeps the pneuma slash; the "eternal sin" is defined by the context (v.30: they called the holy spirit's work an unclean spirit).

Connection: "Doing good" and "saving a life" on the sabbath engage the HB sabbath laws (Exod 20; Deut 5) and the principle that the sabbath preserves life. Appointing twelve evokes the twelve tribes of Israel. The "strong one" bound recalls Isaiah 49:24–25. Redefining family around God's will reframes HB kinship and covenant.

¹And he entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there having the withered hand. ²And they were watching him closely, to see whether he will heal him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. ³And he says to the man having the withered hand, "Rise into the middle." ⁴And he says to them, "Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?" But they were silent. ⁵And looking around at them with anger, grieved at the hardness of their heart, he says to the man, "Stretch out the hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ⁶And the Perushim (Pharisees), going out, immediately were giving counsel with the Herodians against him, as to how they might destroy him.

⁷And Yeshua (Jesus) withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from the Galil (Galilee) followed; and from Yehudah (Judea) ⁸and from Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) and from Idumea and beyond the Yarden (Jordan) and around Tsor (Tyre) and Tsidon (Sidon), a great multitude, hearing what he was doing, came to him. ⁹And he told his disciples that a little boat should stay ready for him because of the crowd, so that they might not press upon him; ¹⁰for he healed many, so that they fell upon him in order to touch him — as many as had afflictions. ¹¹And the unclean spirits, whenever they beheld him, were falling before him and crying out, saying, "You are the Son of God." ¹²And he was sternly warning them many times that they should not make him known.

¹³And he goes up into the mountain and calls to him those whom he himself wanted, and they went off to him. ¹⁴And he made twelve, [whom he also named emissaries,] that they might be with him and that he might send them to proclaim ¹⁵and to have authority to cast out the demons. ¹⁶[And he made the twelve,] and he put the name Kefa (Peter) on Shimon (Simon), ¹⁷and Ya'aqov (James) the son of Zavdai (Zebedee) and Yochanan (John) the brother of James — and he put on them the name Boanerges, which is "sons of thunder" — ¹⁸and Andreas (Andrew) and Philippos (Philip) and Bar-Talmai (Bartholomew) and Mattai (Matthew) and Toma (Thomas) and Ya'aqov the son of Chalfai (Alphaeus) and Taddai (Thaddaeus) and Shimon the Kena'ani (Cananaean) ¹⁹and Yehudah Ish-Keriot (Judas Iscariot), who also handed him over.

²⁰And he comes into a house; and the crowd comes together again, so that they were not even able to eat bread. ²¹And hearing it, those who were his own went out to seize him, for they were saying that he is beside himself. ²²And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying that he has Beelzevul (Beelzebul), and that by the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons. ²³And calling them to him, he was speaking to them in parables: "How can the Satan cast out the Satan? ²⁴And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand; ²⁵and if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶And if the Satan rose up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand but has an end. ²⁷But no one is able, entering into the house of the strong one, to plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong one, and then he will plunder his house. ²⁸Truly I say to you that all things will be forgiven the sons of men — the sins and the blasphemies, whatever they may blaspheme; ²⁹but whoever blasphemes against the holy wind/spirit has no forgiveness for the age, but is guilty of an eternal sin" — ³⁰because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

³¹And his mother and his brothers come, and standing outside, they sent to him, calling him. ³²And a crowd was sitting around him, and they say to him, "See, your mother and your brothers and your sisters outside are seeking you." ³³And answering them he says, "Who is my mother and my brothers?" ³⁴And looking around at those sitting around him in a circle, he says, "See, my mother and my brothers. ³⁵For whoever does the will of God, this one is my brother and sister and mother."