31-32. I tell you that any sinful thing you do or say can be forgiven. Even if you speak against the Son of Man, you can be forgiven. But if you speak against the Holy Spirit, you can never be forgiven, either in this life or in the life to come.
33. A good tree produces only good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. You can tell what a tree is like by the fruit it produces.
34. You are evil snakes, so how can you say anything good? Your words show what is in your hearts.
35. Good people bring good things out of their hearts, but evil people bring evil things out of their hearts.
36. I promise you that on the day of judgment, everyone will have to account for every careless word they have spoken.
37. On that day they will be told that they are either innocent or guilty because of the things they have said.
38. Some Pharisees and teachers of the Law of Moses said, “Teacher, we want you to show us a sign from heaven.”
39. But Jesus replied:You want a sign because you are evil and won't believe! But the only sign you will get is the sign of the prophet Jonah.
40. He was in the stomach of a big fish for three days and nights, just as the Son of Man will be deep in the earth for three days and nights.
41. On the day of judgment the people of Nineveh will stand there with you and condemn you. They turned to God when Jonah preached, and yet here is something far greater than Jonah.
42. The Queen of the South will also stand there with you and condemn you. She travelled a long way to hear Solomon's wisdom, and yet here is something much greater than Solomon.
43. When an evil spirit leaves a person, it travels through the desert, looking for a place to rest. But when the demon doesn't find a place,
44. it says, “I will go back to the home I left.” When it gets there and finds the place empty, clean, and tidy,