¹⁷ Jesus knew their thoughts^(A) and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall.

²³ So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables:^(A) “How can Satan^(B) drive out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. ²⁶ And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. ²⁷ In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.^(C)

²⁵ Jesus knew their thoughts^(A) and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. ²⁶ If Satan^(B) drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? ²⁷ And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul,^(C) by whom do your people^(D) drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. ²⁸ But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God^(E) has come upon you.

²⁹ “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.

²⁵ He did not need any testimony about mankind,^(A) for he knew what was in each person.^(B)

⁴ Knowing their thoughts,^(A) Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?

¹⁶ The Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered^(A) them into their hands. ¹⁷ Abijah and his troops inflicted heavy losses on them, so that there were five hundred thousand casualties among Israel’s able men.