One Year Pray for America Bible - Flipbook - Page 79
69
Medanites. The relationship between the Midianites
and Medanites is unclear; compare 37:28. See
also 25:2. 38:29 Perez means “breaking out.”
38:30 Zerah means “scarlet” or “brightness.”
MATTHEW 12:2245
Then a d
emon-possessed man, who
was blind and couldn’t speak, was
brought to Jesus. He healed the man
so that he could both speak and see.
23 The crowd was amazed and asked,
“Could it be that J esus is the Son of Da
vid, the Messiah?”
24 But when the Phar
isees heard
about the miracle, they said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets
his power from Satan,* the prince of
demons.”
25 Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, “Any kingdom divided by civil
war is doomed. A town or family splintered by feuding will fall apart. 26 And
if Satan is casting out Satan, he is
divided and fighting against himself.
His own kingdom will not survive.
27 And if I am empowered by Sa
tan,
what about your own exorcists? They
cast out demons, too, so they will
condemn you for what you have said.
28 But if I am casting out demons by
the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of
God has arrived among you. 29 For who
is powerful enough to enter the house
of a strong man like Satan and plunder his goods? Only someone even
stronger—someone who could tie him
up and then plunder his house.
30 “Anyone who
isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t
working with me is actually working
against me.
31 “So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven—except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which
will never be forgiven. 32 Anyone who
speaks against the Son of Man can
be forgiven, but anyone who speaks
against the Holy Spirit will never be
forgiven, either in this world or in the
world to come.
33 “A tree is identified by its fruit. If
a tree is good, its fruit will be good.
If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad.
34 You brood of snakes! How could
evil men like you speak what is good
January 18
and right? For whatever is in your
heart determines what you say. 35 A
good person produces good things
from the treasury of a good heart,
and an evil person produces evil
things from the treasury of an evil
heart. 36 And I tell you this, you must
give an account on judgment day
for every idle word you speak. 37 The
words you say will either acquit you
or condemn you.”
38 One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus
and said, “Teacher, we want you to
show us a miraculous sign to prove
your authority.”
39 But J
esus replied, “Only an evil,
adulterous generation would demand
a miraculous sign; but the only sign
I will give them is the sign of the
prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was
in the belly of the great fish for three
days and three nights, so will the Son
of Man be in the heart of the earth for
three days and three nights.
41 “The people of Nineveh will stand
up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they
repented of their sins at the preaching
of Jonah. Now someone greater than
Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent. 42 The queen of Sheba* will also
stand up against this generation on
judgment day and condemn it, for she
came from a distant land to hear the
wisdom of Solomon. Now someone
greater than Solomon is here—but you
refuse to listen.
43 “When an evil* spirit leaves a
person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. 44 Then it
says, ‘I will return to the person I came
from.’ So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order.
45 Then the spirit finds seven other
spirits more evil than itself, and they
all enter the person and live there.
And so that person is worse off than
before. That will be the experience of
this evil generation.”
12:24 Greek Beelzeboul; also in 12:27. Other
manuscripts read Beezeboul; Latin version reads
Beelzebub.
12:42 Greek The queen of the south.
12:43 Greek unclean.
