Mark 3:23

23 And he called them to himself [and] was speaking to them in parables, "How can Satan expel Satan?

Mark 3:23 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 3:23

And he called them unto him
The Jerusalem Scribes, to come nearer to him, and attend to what he had to say in defence of his character and miracles:

and said unto them in parables:
similitudes, and proverbial expressions, as the following seem to be,

how can Satan cast out Satan?
or one devil cast out another? how unreasonable is it to suppose it? can it ever be thought that such, whose interest it is to unite, would ever oppose and dispossess one another? if therefore, as if he should say, I am Beelzebub, or have him, and he is in me, and I am in confederacy with him; was this the case, can any think I should ever cast him out of others, as I do?

Mark 3:23 In-Context

21 And [when] {his family} heard [this], they went out to restrain him, for they were saying, "He has lost his mind!"

22 And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by Beelzebul!" and "By the ruler of the demons he expels the demons!"

23 And he called them to himself [and] was speaking to them in parables, "How can Satan expel Satan?

24 And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom is not able to stand.

25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("called") has been translated as a finite verb