There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.”
Parallel translations
- WEB A multitude was sitting around him, and they told him, “Behold, your mother, your brothers, and your sisters are outside looking for you.”
- KJV And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.
- BSB and a crowd was sitting around Him. “Look,” He was told, “Your mother and brothers are outside, asking for You.”
- NKJV And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.”
- NASB And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they *said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.”
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
The crowd tells Jesus his mother and brothers are outside seeking him. It matters because it prompts his teaching on spiritual family.
Overview
The people relay the family's request, expecting Jesus to defer to natural kinship. The moment becomes an occasion for Jesus to reveal a deeper bond. By his response, he will show that relationship to him is grounded in doing the will of God, opening true family to all who believe.
Cross-references & the web
No cross-references recorded for this verse.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 3:32 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.