1 Again he entered the synagogue. Now a man was there whose hand was withered,
2 and they watched to see if he would heal him on the sabbath, so as to get a charge against him.
3 He said to the man with the withered hand, "Rise and come forward;"
4 then he asked them, "Is it right to help or to hurt on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?" They were silent.
5 Then glancing round him in anger and vexation at their obstinacy he told the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out and his hand was quite restored.
6 On this the Pharisees withdrew and at once joined the Herodians in a plot against him, to destroy him.
7 Jesus retired with his disciples to the sea, and a large number of people from Galilee followed him; also a large number came to him from Judaea,
8 Jerusalem, Idumaea, the other side of the Jordan, and the neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon, as they had heard of his doings.
9 So he told his disciples to have a small boat ready; it was to prevent him being crushed by the crowd,
10 for he healed so many that all who had complaints were pressing on him to get a touch of him.
11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him they fell down before him, screaming, "You are the Son of God!"
12 But he charged them strictly and severely not to make him known.
13 Then he went up the hillside and summoned the men he wanted, and they went to him.
14 He appointed twelve to be with him, also that he might despatch them to preach
15 with the power of casting out daemons;
16 there was Simon, whom he surnamed Peter,
17 James the son of Zebedaeus and John the brother of James (he surnamed them Boanerges, or "Sons of thunder"),
18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the zealot,
19 and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. Then they went indoors,
20 but the crowd gathered again, so that it was impossible even to have a meal.
21 And when his family heard this, they set out to get hold of him, for what they said was, "He is out of his mind."
22 But the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul," and "It is by the prince of daemons that he casts out daemons."
23 So he called them and said to them by way of parable, "How can Satan cast out Satan?
24 If a realm is divided against itself, that realm cannot stand:
25 if a household is divided against itself, that household cannot stand:
26 and if Satan has risen against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, he comes to an end.
27 No one can enter the strong man's house and plunder his goods unless first of all he binds the strong man; then he can plunder his house.
28 I tell you truly, the sons of men shall be forgiven all their sins, and all the blasphemies they may utter,
29 but whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit is never forgiven, he is guilty of an eternal sin."
30 (This was because they said, "He has an unclean spirit.")