# Matthew 12.22-32 **Book:** [Matthew](/codex/matthew-the-apostle/) · NASB95 ## Immediate context (±2 verses) **ASV** ([ASV](/codex/asv/)) > 20. A bruised reed shall he not break, And smoking flax shall he not quench, Till he send forth judgment unto victory. 21. And in his name shall the Gentiles hope. > > **22. Then was brought unto him one possessed with a demon, blind and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the dumb man spake and saw. 23. And all the multitudes were amazed, and said, Can this be the son of David? 24. But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This man doth not cast out demons, but by Beelzebub the prince of the demons. 25. And knowing their thoughts he said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: 26. and if Satan casteth out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand? 27. And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. 28. But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come upon you. 29. Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. 30. He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. 31. Therefore I say unto you, Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. 32. And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come.** > > 33. Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit. 34. Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. (Matthew 12:20-34, ASV) **WEB** ([WEB](/codex/web/)) > 20. He won’t break a bruised reed. He won’t quench a smoking flax, until he leads justice to victory. 21. In his name, the nations will hope.” > > **22. Then one possessed by a demon, blind and mute, was brought to him and he healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. 23. All the multitudes were amazed, and said, “Can this be the son of David?” 24. But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This man does not cast out demons, except by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.” 25. Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27. If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 28. But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then God’s Kingdom has come upon you. 29. Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man, and plunder his goods, unless he first bind the strong man? Then he will plunder his house. 30. “He who is not with me is against me, and he who doesn’t gather with me, scatters. 31. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this age, nor in that which is to come.** > > 33. “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit. 34. You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. (Matthew 12:20-34, WEB) **KJV** ([KJV](/codex/kjv/)) > 20. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. 21. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust. > > **22. Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. 23. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? 24. But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. Beelzebub: Gr. Beelzebul 25. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: 26. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? 27. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. 28. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. 29. Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. 30. He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. 31. Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. 32. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.** > > 33. Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. 34. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. (Matthew 12:20-34, KJV) **YLT** ([YLT](/codex/ylt/)) > 20. a bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench, till he may put forth judgment to victory, 21. and in his name shall nations hope.' > > **22. Then was brought to him a demoniac, blind and dumb, and he healed him, so that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. 23. And all the multitudes were amazed, and said, 'Is this the Son of David?' 24. but the Pharisees having heard, said, 'This one doth not cast out demons, except by Beelzeboul, ruler of the demons.' 25. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said to them, 'Every kingdom having been divided against itself is desolated, and no city or house having been divided against itself, doth stand, 26. and if the Adversary doth cast out the Adversary, against himself he was divided, how then doth his kingdom stand? 27. '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. 28. 'But if I, by the Spirit of God, do cast out the demons, then come already unto you did the reign of God. 29. 'Or how is one able to go into the house of the strong man, and to plunder his goods, if first he may not bind the strong man? and then his house he will plunder. 30. 'He who is not with me is against me, and he who is not gathering with me, doth scatter. 31. Because of this I say to you, all sin and evil speaking shall be forgiven to men, but the evil speaking of the Spirit shall not be forgiven to men. 32. And whoever may speak a word against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven to him, but whoever may speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age, nor in that which is coming.** > > 33. 'Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad, for from the fruit is the tree known. 34. 'Brood of vipers! how are ye able to speak good things, being evil? for out of the abundance of the heart doth the mouth speak. (Matthew 12:20-34, YLT) ## Setting - **Speaker:** _TBD_ - **Audience:** _TBD_ - **Location:** _TBD_ - **Time period:** _TBD_ ## Theological reading _Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added._ ## Key words _Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap._ - _TBD_ - _TBD_ - _TBD_ - _TBD_ ## Quoted in **Arguments and defeaters:** - [Argument from Miracles](/codex/argument-from-miracles/), via [Matthew 12.24](/codex/matthew-12-24/) - [Failed Second Coming Prophecy Objection Defeater](/codex/failed-second-coming-prophecy-objection-defeater/), via [Matthew 12.28](/codex/matthew-12-28/) - [Satanic Fabrication Objection Defeater](/codex/satanic-fabrication-objection-defeater/), via [Matthew 12.24-29](/codex/matthew-12-24-29/) - [Subjective Morality Defeater](/codex/subjective-morality-defeater/), via [Matthew 12.30](/codex/matthew-12-30/) - [Unitarian Oneness Binitarian Objection Defeater](/codex/unitarian-oneness-binitarian-objection-defeater/), via [Matthew 12.31](/codex/matthew-12-31/) - [Why Doesnt God Stop Satan Objection Defeater](/codex/why-doesnt-god-stop-satan-objection-defeater/), via [Matthew 12.25-29](/codex/matthew-12-25-29/) **Concepts:** - [Catholic Church](/codex/catholic-church/), via [Matthew 12.32](/codex/matthew-12-32/) - [Demons](/codex/demons/), via [Matthew 12.24-27](/codex/matthew-12-24-27/), [Matthew 12.28](/codex/matthew-12-28/) - [Jesus Said](/codex/jesus-said/), via [Matthew 12](/codex/matthew-12/) - [Kingdom of God](/codex/g932-basileia/), via [Matthew 12.28](/codex/matthew-12-28/) - [Lord's Prayer](/codex/lords-prayer/), via [Matthew 12.28](/codex/matthew-12-28/) - [Pneumatology](/codex/pneumatology/), via [Matthew 12.31-32](/codex/matthew-12-31-32/) - [Satan](/codex/h7854-satan/), via [Matthew 12.24-27](/codex/matthew-12-24-27/) - [The Devil](/codex/the-devil/), via [Matthew 12.24-27](/codex/matthew-12-24-27/) - [Trinity](/codex/trinity/), via [Matthew 12.31](/codex/matthew-12-31/) **Lexicon:** - [G0165 - aion](/codex/g0165-aion/), via [Matthew 12.32](/codex/matthew-12-32/) - [G1140 - daimonion](/codex/g1140-daimonion/) - [G4151 - pneuma](/codex/g4151-pneuma/), via [Matthew 12.31](/codex/matthew-12-31/) - [G932 - basileia](/codex/g932-basileia/), via [Matthew 12.28](/codex/matthew-12-28/) --- _Scripture quotations taken from the **New American Standard Bible®** (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by **The Lockman Foundation**. Used by permission. All rights reserved. [www.lockman.org](https://www.lockman.org)_ ## Why these four translations ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the **most literal English translations available** (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the **public domain in the United States**, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance. The four: - **[ASV](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition. - **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English. - **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base. - **[YLT](/codex/ylt/)** (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff. See [Bibles](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.