²⁰ When he returned to the house where he was staying, the crowds began to gather again, and soon it was so full of visitors that he couldn’t even find time to eat. ²¹ When his friends heard what was happening, they came to try to take him home with them.

“He’s out of his mind,” they said.

²² But the Jewish teachers of religion who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “His trouble is that he’s possessed by Satan, king of demons. That’s why demons obey him.”

²³ Jesus summoned these men and asked them (using proverbs they all understood), “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ A kingdom divided against itself will collapse. ²⁵ A home filled with strife and division destroys itself. ²⁶ And if Satan is fighting against himself, how can he accomplish anything? He would never survive. ²⁷ Satan must be bound before his demons are cast out,^[a] just as a strong man must be tied up before his house can be ransacked and his property robbed.

²⁸ “I solemnly declare that any sin of man can be forgiven, even blasphemy against me; ²⁹ but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven. It is an eternal sin.”

³⁰ He told them this because they were saying he did his miracles by Satan’s power instead of acknowledging it was by the Holy Spirit’s power.^[b]