Matthew 12:22-13:23

Living Bible

²² Then a demon-possessed man—he was both blind and unable to talk—was brought to Jesus, and Jesus healed him so that he could both speak and see. ²³ The crowd was amazed. “Maybe Jesus is the Messiah!”^[a] they exclaimed.

²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they said, “He can cast out demons because he is Satan,^[b] king of devils.”

²⁵ Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, “A divided kingdom ends in ruin. A city or home divided against itself cannot stand. ²⁶ And if Satan is casting out Satan, he is fighting himself and destroying his own kingdom. ²⁷ And if, as you claim, I am casting out demons by invoking the powers of Satan, then what power do your own people use when they cast them out? Let them answer your accusation! ²⁸ But if I am casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. ²⁹ One cannot rob Satan’s kingdom without first binding Satan.^[c] Only then can his demons be cast out! ³⁰ Anyone who isn’t helping me is harming me.

^31-32 “Even blasphemy against me^[d] or any other sin can be forgiven—all except one: speaking against the Holy Spirit shall never be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come.

³³ “A tree is identified by its fruit. A tree from a select variety produces good fruit; poor varieties don’t. ³⁴ You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For a man’s heart determines his speech. ³⁵ A good man’s speech reveals the rich treasures within him. An evil-hearted man is filled with venom, and his speech reveals it. ³⁶ And I tell you this, that you must give account on Judgment Day for every idle word you speak. ³⁷ Your words now reflect your fate then: either you will be justified by them or you will be condemned.”

³⁸ One day some of the Jewish leaders, including some Pharisees, came to Jesus asking him to show them a miracle.

^39-40 But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, faithless nation would ask for further proof; and none will be given except what happened to Jonah the prophet! For as Jonah was in the great fish for three days and three nights, so I, the Messiah,^[e] shall be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. ⁴¹ The men of Nineveh shall arise against this nation at the judgment and condemn you. For when Jonah preached to them, they repented and turned to God from all their evil ways. And now one greater than Jonah is here—and you refuse to believe him.^{[f] 42} The queen of Sheba shall rise against this nation in the judgment and condemn it; for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and now one greater than Solomon is here—and you refuse to believe him.

^43-45 “This evil nation is like a man possessed by a demon. For if the demon leaves, it goes into the deserts^[g] for a while, seeking rest but finding none. Then it says, ‘I will return to the man I came from.’ So it returns and finds the man’s heart clean but empty! Then the demon finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and all enter the man and live in him. And so he is worse off than before.”

^46-47 As Jesus was speaking in a crowded house,^[h] his mother and brothers were outside, wanting to talk with him. When someone told him they were there, ⁴⁸ he remarked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” ⁴⁹ He pointed to his disciples. “Look!” he said, “these are my mother and brothers.” ⁵⁰ Then he added, “Anyone who obeys my Father in heaven is my brother, sister, and mother!”

13 Later that same day, Jesus left the house and went down to the shore, ^2-3 where an immense crowd soon gathered. He got into a boat and taught from it while the people listened on the beach. He used many illustrations such as this one in his sermon:

“A farmer was sowing grain in his fields. ⁴ As he scattered the seed across the ground, some fell beside a path, and the birds came and ate it. ⁵ And some fell on rocky soil where there was little depth of earth; the plants sprang up quickly enough in the shallow soil, ⁶ but the hot sun soon scorched them and they withered and died, for they had so little root. ⁷ Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns choked out the tender blades. ⁸ But some fell on good soil and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as he had planted. ⁹ If you have ears, listen!”

¹⁰ His disciples came and asked him, “Why do you always use these hard-to-understand illustrations?”^[i]

¹¹ Then he explained to them that only they were permitted to understand about the Kingdom of Heaven, and others were not.

^12-13 “For to him who has will more be given,” he told them, “and he will have great plenty; but from him who has not, even the little he has will be taken away. That is why I use these illustrations, so people will hear and see but not understand.^[j]

¹⁴ “This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah:

‘They hear, but don’t understand; they look, but don’t see! ¹⁵ For their hearts are fat and heavy, and their ears are dull, and they have closed their eyes in sleep, ¹⁶ so they won’t see and hear and understand and turn to God again, and let me heal them.’