A Great Crowd Follows Jesus

7 ^lJesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and ^ma great crowd followed, fromGalilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and ⁿIdumea and from beyond the Jordan and fromaround ^oTyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came tohim. 9 And he told his disciples to ^phave a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lestthey ^qcrush him, 10 for ^rhe had healed many, so that all who had ^sdiseases pressed aroundhim ^tto touch him. 11 ^uAnd whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they ^vfell down beforehim and cried out, “You are ^wthe Son of God.” 12 And ^xhe strictly ordered them not tomake him known.

The Twelve Apostles

13 ^yAnd he went up on the mountain and called to him those ^zwhom he desired, andthey came to him. 14 ^yAnd he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so thatthey might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 ^yand have authority tocast out demons. 16 He appointed the twelve: ^aSimon (to whom ^bhe gave the name Peter);17 ^cJames the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the nameBoanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and^dMatthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon theZealot,² 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.