And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.
Parallel translations
- WEB The unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, “You are the Son of God!”
- BSB And when the unclean spirits saw Him, they fell down before Him and cried out, “You are the Son of God!”
- NKJV And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, “You are the Son of God.”
- NASB And whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are the Son of God!”
- NLT And whenever those possessed by evil spirits caught sight of him, the spirits would throw them to the ground in front of him shrieking, “You are the Son of God!”
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
Unclean spirits fall before Jesus and confess him as the Son of God. It matters because even demons recognize his true divine identity.
Overview
The evil spirits, encountering Jesus, are forced to acknowledge his authority and his identity as God's Son. Their terrified recognition contrasts sharply with the blindness of the religious leaders. Mark shows that Jesus' divine sonship is undeniable even in the spiritual realm, though it must be confessed in faith, not mere fear, to bring salvation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Luke 4:41And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.
- Luke 8:28When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.
- Mark 1:23–24And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,
- Matt 8:29And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
- Jas 2:19Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
- Matt 4:3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
- Acts 16:17The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
- Matt 4:6And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
- Matt 8:31So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.
- Acts 19:13–17Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the LORD Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
- Mark 5:5–6And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
- Matt 14:33Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.
- Mark 1:1The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 3:11 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.