7. and he will answer from within, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give you anything’?
8. I say to you, though he will not rise and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as much as he needs.
9. “And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
10. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
11. “If a son asks for bread from any of you who is a father, will you give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will you give him a serpent instead of a fish?
12. Or if he asks for an egg, will you offer him a scorpion?
13. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
14. He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the crowd marveled.
15. But some of them said, “He casts out demons through Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”
16. Others, testing Him, asked Him for a sign from heaven.
17. But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is made desolate. And a house divided against itself falls.
18. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons through Beelzebub.
19. Now if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
20. But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, no doubt the kingdom of God has come upon you.
21. “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are peacefully kept.
22. But when a stronger man than he attacks and overpowers him, he seizes all the armor in which the man trusted and divides his spoils.
23. “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
24. “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, it goes through dry places seeking rest. Finding none, it says, ‘I will return to my house, from which I came.’
25. When it comes, it finds it swept and furnished.