Jesus is Accused of Working with Beelzebul^(A)

²⁰ Then he went home. Such a large crowd gathered again that Jesus and his disciples^[a] couldn’t even eat. ²¹ When his family heard about it, they went to restrain him, because they kept saying, “He’s out of his mind!”

²² The scribes who had come down from Jerusalem kept repeating, “He has Beelzebul,” and, “He drives out demons by the ruler of demons.”

²³ So Jesus^[b] called them together and began to speak to them in parables. “How can Satan drive out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ And if a household is divided against itself, that household won’t stand. ²⁶ So if Satan rebels against himself and is divided, he cannot stand. Indeed, his end has come. ²⁷ No one can go into a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions without first tying up the strong man. Then he can ransack his house. ²⁸ I tell all of you^[c] with certainty, people will be forgiven their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter.^{[d] 29} But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven, but is guilty of eternal sin.” ³⁰ …because they had been saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”