Matthew 12:27
New International Version
And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.

New Living Translation
And if I am empowered by Satan, what about your own exorcists? They cast out demons, too, so they will condemn you for what you have said.

English Standard Version
And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

Berean Standard Bible
And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.

Berean Literal Bible
And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? On account of this, they will be your judges.

King James Bible
And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.

New King James Version
And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.

New American Standard Bible
And if by Beelzebul I cast out the demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges.

NASB 1995
“If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges.

NASB 1977
“And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Consequently they shall be your judges.

Legacy Standard Bible
And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges.

Amplified Bible
If I cast out the demons by [the help of] Beelzebul (Satan), by whom do your sons drive them out? For this reason they will be your judges.

Christian Standard Bible
And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? For this reason they will be your judges.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, who is it your sons drive them out by? For this reason they will be your judges.

American Standard Version
And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And if I am casting out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

Contemporary English Version
If I use the power of Beelzebul to force out demons, whose power do your own followers use to force them out? Your followers are the ones who will judge you.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.

English Revised Version
And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
If I force demons out of people with the help of Beelzebul, who helps your followers force them out? That's why they will be your judges.

Good News Translation
You say that I drive out demons because Beelzebul gives me the power to do so. Well, then, who gives your followers the power to drive them out? What your own followers do proves that you are wrong!

International Standard Version
If I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own followers drive them out? That is why they will be your judges!

Literal Standard Version
And if I, by Beelzebul, cast out the demons, your sons—by whom do they cast out? Because of this they will be your judges.

Majority Standard Bible
And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.

New American Bible
And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

NET Bible
And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges.

New Revised Standard Version
If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

New Heart English Bible
If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

Webster's Bible Translation
And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your children expel them? therefore they shall be your judges.

Weymouth New Testament
And if it is by Baal-zebul's power that I expel the demons, by whose power do your disciples expel them? They therefore shall be your judges.

World English Bible
If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

Young's Literal Translation
'And if I, by Beelzeboul, do cast out the demons, your sons -- by whom do they cast out? because of this they -- they shall be your judges.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
A House Divided
26If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.…

Cross References
Matthew 4:24
News about Him spread all over Syria, and people brought to Him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering acute pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed--and He healed them.

Matthew 9:34
But the Pharisees said, "It is by the prince of demons that He drives out demons."

Matthew 10:25
It is enough for a disciple to be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!

Acts 19:13
Now there were some itinerant Jewish exorcists who tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those with evil spirits. They would say, "I bind you by Jesus, whom Paul proclaims."


Treasury of Scripture

And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.

Beelzebub.

Matthew 12:24
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.

by whom.

Mark 9:38,39
And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us…

Luke 9:49,50
And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us…

Luke 11:19
And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges.

they.

Matthew 12:41,42
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here…

Luke 19:22
And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:

Romans 3:19
Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

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Matthew 12
1. Jesus reproves the blindness of the Pharisees concerning the Sabbath,
3. by scripture,
9. by reason,
13. and by a miracle.
22. He heals a man possessed that was blind and mute;
24. and confronting the absurd charge of casting out demons by Beelzebub,
32. he shows that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall never be forgiven.
36. Account shall be made of idle words.
38. He rebukes the unfaithful, who seek after a sign,
46. and shows who is his brother, sister, and mother.














(27) By whom do your children cast them out?--The "children" of the Pharisees are their disciples, and in this case, such as practised exorcism, like the sons of Sceva in Acts 19:13. The belief in demoniacal possession had as its natural accompaniment the claim on the part of those who could control the disordered reason of the possessed person of power to cast out the demon. We need not assume that such power was always a pretence, or rested only on spells and incantations. Earnestness, prayer, fasting, faith--these are always mighty in intensifying the power of will, before which the frenzied soul bows in submission or yields in confidence, and these may well have been found among the better and truer Pharisees. Our Lord's question, indeed, requires for its logical validity the admission that the "children" of the accusers did really cast out demons, and that not by Beelzebub.

Verses 27, 28. - Parallel passage: Luke 11:19, 20, almost verbally identical. Verse 27. - And (καί). Another stage in his argument. There is a further reason why they should hesitate before making such an accusation; their own disciples claimed to be able to cast out devils. If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children; sons (Revised Version); i.e. your pupils, who will carry on your work (cf. "sons of the prophets"). Cast them out? (cf. Matthew 4:24, note). For examples of such cases by others than professed followers of Christ, see Luke 9:49; Acts 19:13. Josephus also mentions some, but they are mere impostures; he says ('Ant.,' 08:02.5), "Solomon left behind him the manner of using exorcisms, by which they drive away demons, so that they never return, and this method of cure is of great force unto this day; for I have seen a certain man of my own country, whose name was Eleazar, releasing people that were demoniacal in the presence of Vespasian, and his sons, and his captains, and the whole multitude of his soldiers. The manner of the sure was this: he put a ring that had a root of one of those sorts mentioned by Solomon to the nostrils of the demoniac, after which he drew out the demon through his nostrils; and when the man fell down immediately, he abjured him to return into him no more, making still mention of Solomon, and reciting the incantations which he composed" (cf. also Dr. Cheatham's article on "Exorcism," in 'Dict. of Christian Antiq.'). Therefore they. Emphatic (αὐτοί), and hence, presumably, the transposition in the Revised Version, shall they. Shall be your judges. Our Lord asks the preceding question, neither denying nor affirming for himself the fact that their disciples cast out devils, but only by way of argument. He implies, "You will answer that they do so by God's help. If so, then your sons shall be your judges, convicting you of insincerity. You acknowledge that they work miracles by God's help, and you do not acknowledge that I do. But you cannot stop short there. You must acknowledge that I also cast out devils by God's help."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
And
Καὶ (Kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

if
εἰ (ei)
Conjunction
Strong's 1487: If. A primary particle of conditionality; if, whether, that, etc.

I
ἐγὼ (egō)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

drive out
ἐκβάλλω (ekballō)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1544: To throw (cast, put) out; I banish; I bring forth, produce. From ek and ballo; to eject.

demons
δαιμόνια (daimonia)
Noun - Accusative Neuter Plural
Strong's 1140: An evil-spirit, demon; a heathen deity. Neuter of a derivative of daimon; a d?Monic being; by extension a deity.

by
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

Beelzebul,
Βεελζεβοὺλ (Beelzeboul)
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 954: Beelzebul, a name of Satan, the chief of evil spirits. Of Chaldee origin; dung-god; Beelzebul, a name of Satan.

by
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

whom
τίνι (tini)
Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5101: Who, which, what, why. Probably emphatic of tis; an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what.

{do} your
ὑμῶν (hymōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

sons
υἱοὶ (huioi)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 5207: A son, descendent. Apparently a primary word; a 'son', used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinship.

drive them out?
ἐκβάλλουσιν (ekballousin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 1544: To throw (cast, put) out; I banish; I bring forth, produce. From ek and ballo; to eject.

So then,
διὰ (dia)
Preposition
Strong's 1223: A primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; through.

they
αὐτοὶ (autoi)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

will be
ἔσονται (esontai)
Verb - Future Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

your
ὑμῶν (hymōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

judges.
κριταὶ (kritai)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 2923: A judge, magistrate, ruler. From krino; a judge.


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NT Gospels: Matthew 12:27 If I by Beelzebul cast out demons (Matt. Mat Mt)
Matthew 12:26
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