⁸ “I say to you, whoever declares openly and confesses Me before men [speaking freely of Me as his Lord], the Son of Man also will declare openly and confess him [as one of His own] before the angels of God. ⁹ But he who denies Me before men will be denied in the presence of the angels of God. ¹⁰ And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who ^[a]blasphemes against the Holy Spirit [that is, whoever intentionally discredits the Holy Spirit by attributing the authenticating miracles done by Me to Satan], it will not be forgiven him [for him there is no forgiveness].^{(A) 11} When they bring you before the synagogues and the magistrates and the authorities, do not be worried about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; ¹² for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”