And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “By the prince of the demons He drives out demons.”
Parallel translations
- WEB The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul,” and, “By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons.”
- KJV And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
- NKJV And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”
- NASB The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”
- NLT But the teachers of religious law who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. That’s where he gets the power to cast out demons.”
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
Scribes from Jerusalem accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the prince of demons. It matters because it is a grave attempt to credit Christ's holy work to Satan.
Overview
Unable to deny Jesus' power, the religious authorities attribute it to Beelzebul rather than to God. This slander turns the truth upside down, calling the work of the Holy Spirit the work of the devil. Jesus' response will expose the absurdity and the deadly seriousness of such willful blindness to God's evident work.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Matt 15:1Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked,
- Matt 10:25It is enough for a disciple to be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!
- Matt 12:24But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “Only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, does this man drive out demons.”
- Matt 9:34But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that He drives out demons.”
- John 7:20“You have a demon,” the crowd replied. “Who is trying to kill You?”
- John 8:48The Jews answered Him, “Are we not right to say that You are a Samaritan and You have a demon?”
- Matt 11:18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’
- Mark 7:1Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus,
- Luke 11:15but some of them said, “It is by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons, that He drives out demons.”
- John 8:52“Now we know that You have a demon!” declared the Jews. “Abraham died, and so did the prophets, yet You say that anyone who keeps Your word will never taste death.
- Luke 5:17One day Jesus was teaching, and the Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. People had come from Jerusalem and from every village of Galilee and Judea, and the power of the Lord was present for Him to heal the sick.
- Ps 22:6But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.
- John 10:22At that time the Feast of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter,
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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 3:22 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
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