"Jesus Chooses His Twelve Apostles"

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

                                                                                         Mark 3:13-19

Contemporary English Version The Holy Bible (New York , NY: American Bible Society 1995)