Mark 3:21

When his family ¹  heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

biblegateway Mar 3:21

When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."

biblegateway Mar 3:21

When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "He has lost His senses."

biblegateway Mar 3:21

When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him home with them. "He’s out of his mind," they said.

biblegateway Mar 3:21

His friends heard what was going on and went to rescue him, by force if necessary. They suspected he was getting carried away with himself.

SABDAweb Mar 3:21

And when his friends had news of it, they went out to get him, saying, He is off his head.

bibleoremus Mar 3:21

When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, "He has gone out of his mind."

biblegateway Mar 3:21

But when His own people heard about this , they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, "He is out of His mind."

biblegateway Mar 3:21

When his family ¹  heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

¹ tc Western witnesses D W it, instead of reading οἱ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ (Joi par’ aujtou, here translated “family”), have περὶ αὐτοῦ οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ λοιποί (peri autou Joi grammatei" kai Joi loipoi, “[when] the scribes and others [heard] about him”). But this reading is obviously motivated, for it removes the embarrassing statement about Jesus’ family’s opinion of him as “out of his mind” and transfers this view to the Lord’s opponents. The fact that virtually all other witnesses have οἱ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ here, coupled with the strong internal evidence for the shorter reading, shows this Western reading to be secondary.

¹ tn On the meaning “family” for οἱ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ (Joi par’ autou), see BDAG 756-57 s.v. παρά A.3.b.β.ב.

¹ sn The incident involving the religious leaders accusing Jesus of being in league with the devil (3:22-30) is sandwiched between Mark’s mention of Jesus’ family coming to restrain him (the Greek word for restrain here is also used to mean arrest; see Mark 6:17; 12:12; 14:1, 44, 46, 49, 51) because they thought he was out of his mind (3:21). It is probably Mark’s intention in this structure to show that Jesus’ family is to be regarded as not altogether unlike the experts in the law [scribes] in their perception of the true identity of Jesus; they are incorrect in their understanding of him as well. The tone is obviously one of sadness and the emphasis on Jesus’ true family in vv. 31-35 serves to underscore the comparison between his relatives and the scribes on the one hand, and those who truly obey God on the other.