Mark 3:13-19

Contemporary English Version

Jesus Chooses His Twelve Apostles

(Matthew 10.1-4; Luke 6.12-16)

¹³Jesus decided to ask some of his disciples to go up on a mountain with him, and they went. ¹⁴Then he chose twelve of them to be his apostles,^[a] so they could be with him. He also wanted to send them out to preach ¹⁵and to force out demons. ¹⁶Simon was one of the twelve, and Jesus named him Peter. ¹⁷There were also James and John, the two sons of Zebedee. Jesus called them Boanerges, which means “Thunderbolts.” ¹⁸Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus were also apostles. The others were Simon, known as the Eager One,^[b] ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot,^[c] who later betrayed Jesus.

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Footnotes

3.14 to be his apostles: These words are not in some manuscripts.
3.18 known as the Eager One: The Greek text has “Cananaean,” which probably comes from a Hebrew word meaning “zealous” (see Luke 6.15). “Zealot” was the name later given to the members of a Jewish group that resisted and fought against the Romans.
3.19 Iscariot: This may mean “a man from Kerioth” (a place in Judea). But more probably it means “a man who was a liar” or “a man who was a betrayer.”