Matthew 12:22–45

A Kingdom Divided

^22aThen a ^bdemon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to ¹Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw.

²³And all the crowds were astounded, and were saying, “Can this man really be the ^aSon of David?”

²⁴But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man does not ^acast out demons except by ¹Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”

^25aAnd ^bknowing their thoughts He said to them, “¹Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and ²any city or house divided against itself will not stand.

²⁶“And if ^aSatan casts out Satan, he ¹is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand?

²⁷“And if I ^aby ¹Beelzebul cast out demons, ^bby whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges.

²⁸“But ^aif I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

²⁹“Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

³⁰“^aHe who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

³¹“^aTherefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.

³²“^aAnd whoever ¹speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever ²speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in ^bthis age or in the age to come.

The Heart Is Revealed by Words

³³“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for ^athe tree is known by its fruit.

³⁴“^aYou brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak ¹what is good? ^bFor the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.

³⁵“^aThe good man brings out of his good treasure ¹what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure ²what is evil.

³⁶“But I tell you that every ¹careless word that people ²speak, they shall give an accounting for it in ^athe day of judgment.

³⁷“For ¹by your words you will be justified, and ²by your words you will be condemned.”

The Sign of Jonah

³⁸Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered and said to Him, “Teacher, ^awe want to see ¹a sign from You.”

³⁹But He answered and said to them, “^aAn evil and adulterous generation eagerly seeks for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet;

⁴⁰for just as ^aJonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will ^bthe Son of Man be ^cthree days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

⁴¹“^aThe men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because ^bthey repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, ^csomething greater than Jonah is here.

⁴²“^aThe Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, ^bsomething greater than Solomon is here.

⁴³“^aNow when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it.

⁴⁴“Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order.

⁴⁵“Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and ^athe last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”