1 And when Jesus saw the disciples of John, he was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd.1
2 And one evening he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.2
3 And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples and of them he chose twelve.3
4 Simon (whom he also named Peter or Caiphas, meaning Stone) and his brother Andrew.
5 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee (whom he called Boanerges, which is, the sons of thunder)
6 And Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot.
7 And these twelve he chose that he might send them to preach,
8 And to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils.
9 But Jesus knew not that one of them, Judas Iscariot, will betray him,
10 That the world may know that the prophets can do nothing without the Lord’s leave and that they can see nothing which they are not shown.
11 And Jesus sent forth the twelve, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
12 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.4
13 And provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,
14 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.
15 And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence.
16 And whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust of your feet.
17 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of Judgement, than for that city.
18 And they went out, and preached, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.5
19 And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.
20 And Jesus also departed thence to teach and preach.6
The Qur’anic text
The passages of the Qur’an that this chapter follows. All the passages are gathered on The Qur’an on Jesus.
The Disciples
3:52 When Jesus sensed disbelief from his people, he asked, “Who will stand up with me for God?” The disciples replied, “We will stand up for God. We believe in God, so bear witness that we have submitted.”
3:53 ˹They prayed to God,˺ “Our Lord! We believe in Your revelations and follow the messenger, so count us among those who bear witness.”
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Notes
- Cf. Mark 6:34. Matthew (14:14) modifies Mark’s statement considerably. First of all, he omits Mark’s words “because they were as sheep not having a shepherd,” which he puts after reporting about John’s messengers sent from the prison (Matt. 9:36). Secondly, while Mark says that “he began to teach them many things,” Matthew says that “he healed their sick.” Luke tries to combine both versions. Mark’s statement rightly suggests that it was after John’s death that Jesus truly began to act as the leader of the Baptist movement. ↩
- On this night, Jesus pondered what he should do in his new capacity as the sole leader of the Baptist movement. With the enthusiasm of a new leader, he decided to expand his missionary work and to reach a wider audience with the message of spiritual renewal. He chose about twelve of his close disciples and sent them to preach. About the names of these “apostles,” there are substantial discrepancies among the first five books of the New Testament, and for this reason, it is doubtful whether there was from the beginning a well-defined group of twelve ordained apostles. Apostleship was probably a temporary function, wholly ad personam. The number “twelve” (= the number of Israeli tribes) suggests that Jesus formed a special group of apostles, if at all he did, after he began to entertain the possibility that he might be the Messiah. The correspondence between the number of apostles and that of Israeli tribes also shows that in the earliest Christian tradition, there was no thought of a Gentile mission. Luke seems to have noticed this and talks of a mission of “the seventy” to cover the entire humanity, which was supposed to be divided into seventy nations. ↩
- Mark 3:13-19; Matt. 10:2-4; Luke 6:12-16. Mark mentions the choice of the twelve quite early in Jesus’ ministry but suggests (6:12-14) that they were not sent on missions until after John’s death. Matthew combines the choice and the mission, putting them both much before John’s death. Luke more or less follows Mark. It seems best to put the mission of the twelve after John’s death, as in Mark and Luke, and to combine it with the choice of the apostles, as in Matthew. ↩
- Matt. 10:5-6. The other Gospels omit these instructions. ↩
- The instructions given by Jesus to the twelve when he was sending them to preach show new enthusiasm but not new thinking. The message preached by the disciples seems to be the same as what John and Jesus preached earlier. Mark says that they preached “that men should repent,” and Matthew and Luke say that the preaching was about the imminence of the kingdom of God. John and Jesus have been preaching the same message (Mark 1:15; Matt. 4:17, etc). ↩
- Matt. 11:1. ↩