Luke 11:14–36

A Kingdom Divided

^14aAnd He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. Now it happened that when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the crowds marveled.

¹⁵But some of them said, “He casts out demons ^aby ^bBeelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”

¹⁶And others, testing Him, ^awere seeking from Him ¹a sign from heaven.

^17aBut He knew their thoughts and said to them, “¹Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a house divided against ²itself falls.

¹⁸“But if ^aSatan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by ^bBeelzebul.

¹⁹“And if I by ^aBeelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason, they will be your judges.

²⁰“But if I cast out demons by the ^afinger of God, then ^bthe kingdom of God has come upon you.

²¹“When ¹a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are ²undisturbed.

²²“But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder.

²³“^aHe who is not with Me is against Me and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.

²⁴“^aWhen the unclean spirit goes out of ¹a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’

²⁵“And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order.

²⁶“Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”

²⁷Now it happened that while ¹Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “^aBlessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.”

²⁸But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are ^athose who hear the word of God and keep it.”

The Sign of Jonah

²⁹Now as the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “^aThis generation is a wicked generation; it ^bseeks ¹a sign, and yet no ²sign will be given to it but the ³sign of Jonah.

³⁰“For just as ^aJonah became ¹a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

³¹“The ^aQueen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

³²“The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because ^athey repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

³³“^aNo one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.

³⁴“^aThe eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is ¹clear, your whole body also is full of light, but when it is ²bad, your body also is full of darkness.

³⁵“Therefore watch out that the light in you is not darkness.

³⁶“If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays.”