But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow does not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow does not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This man doth not cast out demons, but by Beelzebub the prince of the demons.
But the Pharisees, hearing of it, said, This man only sends evil spirits out of men by Beelzebub, the ruler of evil spirits.
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This man doth not cast out demons, but by Beelzebub the prince of the demons.
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "This man does not cast out demons, except by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons."
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This man doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
Beelzebub - See Matthew 10:25.
But when the Pharisees heard it ... - It was necessary for the Pharisees, who had determined to reject Jesus of Nazareth, to account in "some" way for the miracles he had performed.
Here was a manifest miracle, an exertion of power unquestionably superior to what people could put forth. The common people were fast drawing the proper inference from it, and coming into the belief that this was the Messiah. The authority and power of the Pharisees were declining. Unless, therefore, some way should be devised of accounting for these facts, their influence would be at an end. Whatever way of accounting for them was adopted, it was necessary that they should acknowledge that there was "superhuman power." The people were fully persuaded of this, and no man could deny it. They therefore ascribed it to the prince of the devils - to Beelzebub. In this they had two objects:
1. To concede to the people that here was a "miracle," or a work above mere human power.
2. To throw all possible contempt on Jesus. Beelzebub, or Beelzebul, as it is in the Greek, and correctly rendered in the margin, was an opprobrious name given to the leader of the devils as an expression of supreme contempt. See the notes at Matthew 10:25.
12:24 3:22 .