Exegesis:
ei de egō ‘but if I….’ de marks here the shift to a different argument. egō is emphatic and contrasts with hoi huioi humōn ‘your sons,’ see next note.
hoi huioi humōn en tini ekballousin ‘by whom do your sons cast out (demons)?’ hoi huioi humōn (emphatic by virtue of its position at the beginning of the clause) means ‘your own people’ i.e. who practice exorcism.
dia touto autoi humōn kritai esontai ‘because of this they shall be your judges.’ touto refers to the fact that there are also Jewish exorcists (cf. 9.49; Acts 19.13), who know that they cannot exorcize demons with the help of Beelzebul. The clause means that their own exorcists are the people to judge their opinion about Jesus to be untrue, with the undertone that this will result in their condemnation.
kritēs ‘judge,’ used here in a non-technical sense.
Translation:
And, preferably, ‘again,’ ‘what is more,’ ‘at the same time,’ or another expression marking a new part of the argument.
If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, or, avoiding repetition, “if I do that” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation), “if this is how I drive them out” (Good News Translation).
Your sons, or, “your own people” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation, New English Bible), “your own followers” (Good News Translation).
They shall be your judges, or, ‘the ones who judge/condemn you’; or better to emphasize the subject, ‘it is they who will declare you guilty,’ ‘they themselves will show/say that you are wrong.’
Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.
