And when His own people heard about this, they came out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.”
Parallel translations
- WEB When his friends heard it, they went out to seize him: for they said, “He is insane.”
- KJV And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.
- BSB When His family heard about this, they went out to take custody of Him, saying, “He is out of His mind.”
- NKJV 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.”
- NLT When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus' own family sets out to seize him, thinking he is out of his mind. It matters because even those closest to him misunderstood his mission.
Overview
His relatives, alarmed by his demanding ministry and growing controversy, conclude he is unbalanced and try to take him home. Their misunderstanding shows how radically Jesus' single-minded devotion to God confounded ordinary expectations. It also frames the teaching to come, that true kinship with Jesus is defined by doing God's will, not by blood.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Acts 26:24As he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are crazy! Your great learning is driving you insane!”
- John 10:20Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane! Why do you listen to him?”
- John 7:3–10His brothers therefore said to him, “Depart from here, and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see your works which you do.
- Mark 3:31His mother and his brothers came, and standing outside, they sent to him, calling him.
- 2 Cor 5:13For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. Or if we are of sober mind, it is for you.
- 2 Kgs 9:11When Jehu came out to the servants of his lord, and one said to him, “Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you?” He said to them, “You know the man and how he talks.”
- Hos 9:7The days of visitation have come. The days of reckoning have come. Israel will consider the prophet to be a fool, and the man who is inspired to be insane, because of the abundance of your sins, and because your hostility is great.
- Jer 29:26“Yahweh has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in Yahweh’s house, for every man who is mad, and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles.
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 3:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.