'Evil Spirit' in the Bible

And let them make no more offerings to evil spirits, after which they have gone, turning away from the Lord. Let this be a law to them for ever, through all their generations.

They made offerings to evil spirits which were not God, to gods who were strange to them, which had newly come up, not feared by your fathers.

Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech:

But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.

Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.

And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul's hand.

And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand.

And he made all the priests from the towns of Judah come into Jerusalem, and he made unclean the high places where the priests had been burning offerings, from Geba to Beer-sheba; and he had the high places of the evil spirits pulled down which were by the doorway of Joshua, the ruler of the town, on the left side of the way into the town.

So death came to Saul because of the sin which he did against the Lord, that is, because of the word of the Lord which he kept not; and because he went for directions to one who had an evil spirit,

They even made offerings of their sons and their daughters to evil spirits,

But the beasts of the waste land will have their holes there; and the houses will be full of crying jackals, and ostriches will have their place there, and evil spirits will be dancing there.

And the beasts of the waste places will come together with the jackals, and the evil spirits will be crying to one another, even the night-spirit will come and make her resting-place there.

“But these two things shall come to you abruptly, in one day:Loss of children and widowhood.They will come on you in full measureIn spite of your many [claims of power through your] sorceries,In spite of the great power of your enchantments.

And news of him went out through all Syria; and they took to him all who were ill with different diseases and pains, those having evil spirits and those who were off their heads, and those who had no power of moving. And he made them well.

A great number will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, were we not prophets in your name, and did we not by your name send out evil spirits, and by your name do works of power?

And in the evening, they took to him a number of people who had evil spirits; and he sent the spirits out of them with a word, and made well all who were ill;

And when he had come to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, there came out to him from the place of the dead, two who had evil spirits, so violent that no man was able to go that way.

And the evil spirits made strong prayers to him, saying, If you send us out, let us go into the herd of pigs.

And their keepers went in flight to the town and gave an account of everything, and of the men who had the evil spirits.

And while they were going away, there came to him a man without the power of talking, and with an evil spirit.

And when the evil spirit had been sent out, the man had the power of talking: and they were all surprised, saying, Such a thing has never been seen in Israel.

But the Pharisees said, By the ruler of evil spirits, he sends evil spirits out of men.

Jesus then called His twelve apostles [see next verse] to Him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal all kinds of diseases and illnesses.

Make well those who are ill, give life to the dead, make lepers clean, send evil spirits out of men; freely it has been given to you, freely give.

A disciple is doing well if he can be [as good] as his teacher, and the slave [as good] as his master. If they have called the master of the house [i.e., Jesus] Beelzebub [i.e., the chief of evil spirits. See Mark 3:22], how much more [likely] will they call members of his household [i.e., the disciples] the same thing!

For John came, taking no food or drink, and they say, He has an evil spirit.

Then they took to him one with an evil spirit, who was blind and had no power of talking: and he made him well so that he had the power of talking and seeing.

But the Pharisees, hearing of it, said, This man only sends evil spirits out of men by Beelzebub, the ruler of evil spirits.

And if I by Beelzebub send evil spirits out of men, by whom do your sons send them out? So let them be your judges.

But if I by the Spirit of God send out evil spirits, then is the kingdom of God come on you.

But when an evil spirit has been driven out of a person, it roams through desert regions trying to find rest but cannot find it.

Just then a Canaanite woman came out of that area [Note: Mark 7:26 calls her a Syrophoenician Gentile], crying, "O Lord, son of David, have pity on me. My daughter is seriously troubled by an evil spirit."

"Lord, take pity on my son, for he has violent seizures and suffers intense pain. He often falls into a fire or into water. [Note: This man was also dominated by an evil spirit. See verse 18].

Then Jesus spoke sternly to [the evil spirit in] the boy, and it left him, and he was immediately healed.

Then Jesus' disciples came to Him privately and said, "Why could we not drive out that evil spirit?"

But an evil spirit of this kind is only driven out by prayer and fasting."

And just then there appeared in the synagogue a man dominated by an evil spirit. He shouted out,

And the evil spirit caused the man to have a convulsion, then shouted with a loud voice and came out of him.

And all the people [in the synagogue] were so amazed they began asking one another, "What is this, some new teaching? And it is spoken with such authority He even orders evil spirits, and they obey him."

And in the evening, at sundown, they took to him all who were diseased, and those who had evil spirits.

And a number, who were ill with different diseases, he made well, and sent out evil spirits; but he did not let the evil spirits say anything, because they had knowledge of him.

And he went into their Synagogues in every part of Galilee, preaching and driving out evil spirits.

And whenever they saw Him, [people possessed by] evil spirits fell to the ground in front of Him, shouting, "You are the Son of God."

And give them the power of driving out evil spirits:

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem, said, He has Beelzebub, and, By the ruler of evil spirits he sends evil spirits out of men.

Jesus said all this because these experts in the law of Moses had been saying, "He has an evil spirit in him."

When Jesus left the boat, immediately a man with an evil spirit came from the graveyard to meet Him.

For Jesus was saying to [the evil spirit in] him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit."

Then He asked [the evil spirit], "What is your name?" And he answered Him, "My name is 'Legion,' [Note: This word means a number consisting of between 5,000 and 6,000], for there are many of us [i.e., evil spirits]."

miles apart in the same region east of Lake Galilee].

And He gave them permission to do it. So, the evil spirits went out of the man's body and entered the bodies of the [wild] hogs. The herd then rushed down the cliff into the lake. There were about two thousand that drowned in the lake.

And they came to Jesus, and saw the man in whom had been the evil spirits seated, clothed and with full use of his senses, and they were full of fear.

And those who had seen it gave them an account of what had been done to him who had the evil spirits, and of the fate of the pigs.

And when he was getting into the boat, the man in whom had been the evil spirits had a great desire to come with him.

Then Jesus called to Him the twelve apostles and sent them out two by two. He gave them authority over evil spirits

And they sent out a number of evil spirits, and put oil on a great number who were ill, and made them well.

But just then a woman whose little daughter was dominated by an evil spirit heard about Jesus and came and fell down at His feet.

Now the woman was a Greek, a Syro-phoenician by birth: and she made a request to him that he would send the evil spirit out of her daughter.

And he said to her, For this saying go your way; the evil spirit has gone out of your daughter.

And she went away to her house, and saw the child on the bed, and the evil spirit gone out.

And frequently the evil spirit has tried to kill him, throwing him into a fire or into the water. But if you can do anything [for him], have pity on us and help us."

When Jesus saw a crowd running together [toward Him], He spoke sternly to the evil spirit [in the boy], saying to it, "You deaf-mute spirit, I order you to come out of this boy and to never return to him again."

And when Jesus had come into a house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not drive out the evil spirit [from that boy]?"

"An evil spirit of this kind," He answered, "can only be driven out by prayer."

John said to him, Master, we saw one driving out evil spirits in your name: and we said that he might not, because he is not one of us.

Now when he came back from the dead early on the first day of the week, he went first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had sent out seven evil spirits.

And these signs will be with those who have faith: in my name they will send out evil spirits; and they will make use of new languages;

and Acts 2:43]. In my name [i.e., by my authority], they will drive out evil spirits; they will speak in languages [supernaturally];

Now there was a man in the synagogue who was dominated by the spirit of an evil demon [Note: These "evil spirits" or "demons" were powerful beings sent by Satan to inhabit people, causing physical, mental and spiritual harm to them]. He was shouting with a loud voice,

And Jesus said to him, Be quiet, and come out of him. And when the evil spirit had put him down on the earth in the middle of them, he came out of him, having done him no damage.

And wonder came on them all and they said to one another, What are these words? for with authority and power he gives orders to the evil spirits and they come out.

And evil spirits came out of a number of them, crying out and saying, You are the Son of God. But he gave them sharp orders not to say a word, because they had knowledge that he was the Christ.

And [also] those who were tormented by evil spirits were healed.

And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight.

For John the Baptist came, taking no food or drink, and you say, He has an evil spirit.

And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,

And when he had come to the land, there came to him a certain man from the town who had evil spirits; and for a long time he had had no clothing on, and was not living in a house but in the place of the dead.

For he gave an order to the evil spirit to come out of the man. For frequently it would take a grip of him: and he was kept under control, and prisoned with chains; but parting the chains in two, he would be sent by the driving of the evil spirit into waste places.

Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" And he answered, " [My name is] 'Legion'" [Note: This word means a number consisting of between 5,000 and 6,000], for many evil spirits had entered the man.

And the evil spirits begged Jesus not to require them to go away into the "pit" [Note: This appears to be the place reserved for the devil and his evil spirits. See Rev. 9:1-11; 20:1-3].

Now there was a great herd of pigs in that place, getting food on the mountain: and the evil spirits made a request to him that he would let them go into the pigs, and he let them.

And the evil spirits came out of the man and went into the pigs: and the herd went rushing down a sharp slope into the water and came to destruction.

And they went out to see what had taken place, and they came to Jesus and saw the man out of whom the evil spirits had gone, seated, clothed and with full use of his senses, at the feet of Jesus; and fear came on them.

And those who had seen it gave them an account of how the man who had the evil spirits was made well.

But the man from whom the evil spirits had gone out had a great desire to be with him, but he sent him away, saying,

And getting the twelve together, he gave them power and authority over all evil spirits and over diseases, to make them well.

For when an evil spirit takes hold of him he suddenly screams and [then] it throws him into convulsions so that he foams [at the mouth]. And it does not want to leave him, [even after] severely bruising him.

And while he was coming, he was pushed violently down and twisted by the evil spirit. But Jesus gave sharp orders to the unclean spirit, and made the boy well, and gave him back to his father.

And John, answering, said, Master, we saw a man driving out evil spirits in your name, and we did not let him do it, because he was not one of us.

And the seventy came back with joy, saying, Lord, even the evil spirits are under our power in your name.

Yet do not rejoice in this, that the evil spirits are subject to you, rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven.

And he was sending an evil spirit out of a man who was without the power of talking. And it came about that when the spirit had gone the man had the power of talking; and the people were full of wonder.

But some of them said, He sends out evil spirits by Beelzebul, the ruler of evil spirits.

If, then, Satan is at war with himself, how will he keep his kingdom? because you say that I send evil spirits out of men by the help of Beelzebul.

And if I, by Beelzebul, send out evil spirits, by whose help do your sons send them out? so let them be your judges.

But if I, by the finger of God, send out evil spirits, then the kingdom of God has overtaken you.

"When an evil spirit has been driven out of a man, it roams through desert regions trying to find rest, but [when it] cannot find any, it says [to itself], 'I will return to my house from which I came [i.e., the body of the person it dominated].'

And he saw before him a woman who for eighteen years had suffered from weakness owing to her having an evil spirit in her. She was bent double, and was wholly unable to raise herself.