11. Do any of you have a son? What would you do if your son asked you for a fish? Would any father give him a snake?
12. Or, if he asked for an egg, would you give him a scorpion? Of course not!
13. Even you who are bad know how to give good things to your children. So surely your heavenly Father knows how to give the Holy Spirit to the people who ask him.”
14. One time Jesus was sending a demon out of a man who could not talk. When the demon came out, the man was able to speak. The crowds were amazed.
15. But some of the people said, “He uses the power of Satan to force demons out of people. Satan is the ruler of demons.”
16. Some others there wanted to test Jesus. They asked him to do a miracle as a sign from God.
17. But he knew what they were thinking. So he said to them, “Every kingdom that fights against itself will be destroyed. And a family that fights against itself will break apart.
18. So if Satan is fighting against himself, how will his kingdom survive? You say that I use the power of Satan to force out demons.
19. But if I use Satan’s power to force out demons, then what power do your people use when they force out demons? So your own people will prove that you are wrong.
20. But I use the power of God to force out demons. This shows that God’s kingdom has now come to you.
21. “When a strong man with many weapons guards his own house, the things in his house are safe.
22. But suppose a stronger man comes and defeats him. The stronger man will take away the weapons that the first man trusted to keep his house safe. Then the stronger man will do what he wants with the other man’s things.
23. “Whoever is not with me is against me. And anyone who does not work with me is working against me.
24. “When an evil spirit comes out of someone, it travels through dry places, looking for a place to rest. But it finds no place to rest. So it says, ‘I will go back to the home I left.’
25. When it comes back, it finds that home all neat and clean.