And if I am empowered by Satan, what about your own exorcists? They cast out demons, too, so they will condemn you for what you have said.
Parallel translations
- WEB If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
- KJV And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.
- BSB And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.
- NKJV And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.
- NASB And if by Beelzebul I cast out the demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges.
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
Jesus asks by whose power their own followers cast out demons, turning their accusation back on them.
Overview
If Jewish exorcists were assumed to work by God's power, the same charge against Jesus is inconsistent. Their own practice condemns their slander of him. The point exposes the prejudice behind their accusation rather than any honest reasoning.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Mark 9:38–39John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone who doesn’t follow us casting out demons in your name; and we forbade him, because he doesn’t follow us.”
- Acts 19:13–16But some of the itinerant Jews, exorcists, took on themselves to invoke over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.”
- Luke 9:49–50John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he doesn’t follow with us.”
- Rom 3:19Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
- Luke 11:19But if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore will they be your judges.
- Matt 12:41–42The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here.
- Luke 19:22“He said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked servant! You knew that I am an exacting man, taking up that which I didn’t lay down, and reaping that which I didn’t sow.
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
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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.