A House Divided Cannot Stand^(A)

^14 (B)And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled. ¹⁵ But some of them said, ^(C)“He casts out demons by ^[a]Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”

¹⁶ Others, testing Him, ^(D)sought from Him a sign from heaven. ^17 (E)But ^(F)He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. ¹⁸ If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub. ¹⁹ And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if I cast out demons ^(G)with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. ^21 (H)When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. ²² But ^(I)when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his ^[b]spoils. ^23 (J)He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

An Unclean Spirit Returns^(K)

^24 (L)“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ²⁵ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. ²⁶ Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and ^(M)the last state of that man is worse than the first.”

Keeping the Word

²⁷ And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, ^(N)“Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”

²⁸ But He said, ^(O)“More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

Seeking a Sign^(P)

^29 (Q)And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a ^(R)sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah ^[c]the prophet. ³⁰ For as ^(S)Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation. ^31 (T)The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a ^(U)greater than Solomon is here. ³² The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for ^(V)they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.

The Lamp of the Body^(W)

^33 (X)“No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a ^(Y)basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light. ^34 (Z)The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is ^[d]good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is ^[e]bad, your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵ Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. ³⁶ If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”

The Nations Remaining in the Land

3 Now these are ^(A)the nations which the Lord left, that He might test Israel by them, that is, all who had not ^[a]known any of the wars in Canaan ² (this was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it), ³ namely, ^(B)five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath. ⁴ And they were left, that He might test Israel by them, to ^[b]know whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

^5 (C)Thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁶ And ^(D)they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons; and they served their gods.

Othniel

⁷ So the children of Israel did ^(E)evil in the sight of the Lord. They ^(F)forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baals and ^[c]Asherahs. ⁸ Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He ^(G)sold them into the hand of ^(H)Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served Cushan-Rishathaim eight years. ⁹ When the children of Israel ^(I)cried out to the Lord, the Lord ^(J)raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel, who delivered them: ^(K)Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. ^10 (L)The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord delivered Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed over Cushan-Rishathaim. ¹¹ So the land had rest for forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Ehud

^12 (M)And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord strengthened ^(N)Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹³ Then he gathered to himself the people of Ammon and ^(O)Amalek, went and ^[d]defeated Israel, and took possession of ^(P)the City of Palms. ¹⁴ So the children of Israel ^(Q)served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵ But when the children of Israel ^(R)cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a ^(S)left-handed man. By him the children of Israel sent tribute to Eglon king of Moab. ¹⁶ Now Ehud made himself a dagger (it was double-edged and a cubit in length) and fastened it under his clothes on his right thigh. ¹⁷ So he brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. (Now Eglon was a very fat man.) ¹⁸ And when he had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who had carried the tribute. ¹⁹ But he himself turned back ^(T)from the ^[e]stone images that were at Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.”

He said, “Keep silence!” And all who attended him went out from him.

²⁰ So Ehud came to him (now he was sitting upstairs in his cool private chamber). Then Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” So he arose from his seat. ²¹ Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. ²² Even the ^[f]hilt went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the dagger out of his belly; and his entrails came out. ²³ Then Ehud went out through the porch and shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

²⁴ When he had gone out, ^[g]Eglon’s servants came to look, and to their surprise, the doors of the upper room were locked. So they said, “He is probably ^(U)attending^[h] to his needs in the cool chamber.” ²⁵ So they waited till they were ^(V)embarrassed, and still he had not opened the doors of the upper room. Therefore they took the key and opened them. And there was their master, fallen dead on the floor.

²⁶ But Ehud had escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the ^[i]stone images and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷ And it happened, when he arrived, that ^(W)he blew the trumpet in the ^(X)mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mountains; and ^[j]he led them. ²⁸ Then he said to them, “Follow me, for ^(Y)the Lord has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him, seized the ^(Z)fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over. ²⁹ And at that time they killed about ten thousand men of Moab, all stout men of valor; not a man escaped. ³⁰ So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And ^(AA)the land had rest for eighty years.

Shamgar

³¹ After him was ^(AB)Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines ^(AC)with an ox goad; ^(AD)and he also delivered ^(AE)Israel.

Deborah

4 When Ehud was dead, ^(AF)the children of Israel again did ^(AG)evil in the sight of the Lord. ² So the Lord ^(AH)sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in ^(AI)Hazor. The commander of his army was ^(AJ)Sisera, who dwelt in ^(AK)Harosheth Hagoyim. ³ And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord; for Jabin had nine hundred ^(AL)chariots of iron, and for twenty years ^(AM)he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.

⁴ Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. ^5 (AN)And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. ⁶ Then she sent and called for ^(AO)Barak the son of Abinoam from ^(AP)Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and ^[k]deploy troops at Mount ^(AQ)Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun; ⁷ and against you ^(AR)I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the ^(AS)River Kishon; and I will ^[l]deliver him into your hand’?”

⁸ And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!”

⁹ So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will ^(AT)sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰ And Barak called ^(AU)Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men ^(AV)under^[m] his command, and Deborah went up with him.

¹¹ Now Heber ^(AW)the Kenite, of the children of ^(AX)Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, ^(AY)which is beside Kedesh.

¹² And they reported to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. ¹³ So Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth Hagoyim to the River Kishon.

¹⁴ Then Deborah said to Barak, ^[n]“Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. ^(AZ)Has not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. ¹⁵ And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. ¹⁶ But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was ^(BA)left.

¹⁷ However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of ^(BB)Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸ And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear.” And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a ^[o]blanket.

¹⁹ Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened ^(BC)a jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him. ²⁰ And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’ ”

²¹ Then Jael, Heber’s wife, ^(BD)took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. ²² And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple.

²³ So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel. ²⁴ And the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.