7. Imagine further that he answers from within the house, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’
8. I assure you, even if he wouldn’t get up and help because of his friendship, he will get up and give his friend whatever he needs because of his friend’s brashness.
9. And I tell you: Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.
10. Everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. To everyone who knocks, the door is opened.
11. "Which father among you would give a snake to your child if the child asked for a fish?
12. If a child asked for an egg, what father would give the child a scorpion?
13. If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"
14. Jesus was throwing out a demon that causes muteness. When the demon was gone, the man who couldn’t speak began to talk. The crowds were amazed.
15. But some of them said, "He throws out demons with the authority of Beelzebul, the ruler of demons."
16. Others were testing him, seeking a sign from heaven.
17. Because Jesus knew what they were thinking, he said to them, “Every kingdom involved in civil war becomes a wasteland, and a house torn apart by divisions will collapse.
18. If Satan is at war with himself, how will his kingdom endure? I ask this because you say that I throw out demons by the authority of Beelzebul.
19. If I throw out demons by the authority of Beelzebul, then by whose authority do your followers throw them out? Therefore, they will be your judges.
20. But if I throw out demons by the power of God, then God’s kingdom has already overtaken you.
21. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his possessions are secure.
22. But as soon as a stronger one attacks and overpowers him, the stronger one takes away the armor he had trusted and divides the stolen goods.
23. "Whoever isn’t with me is against me, and whoever doesn’t gather with me, scatters.
24. When an unclean spirit leaves a person, it wanders through dry places looking for a place to rest. But it doesn’t find any. Then it says, ‘I’ll go back to the house I left.’
25. When it arrives, it finds the house cleaned up and decorated.