Insanity

How Nave’s arranged it

• General scriptures concerningProverbs 26:18
• Feigned by David1 Samuel 21:13–15
• Sent as a judgment from GodDeuteronomy 28:28Zechariah 12:4
• NebuchadnezzarsDaniel 4:32–34
• Jesus accused ofMark 3:21John 10:20
• Paul's allegedActs 26:24Acts 26:25
• Cured by JesusMatthew 4:24Matthew 17:15
• Demoniacal
• Saul1 Samuel 16:141 Samuel 18:10
• See Demons, Possession by

The passages, in Bible order (13)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 13 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Deuteronomy 28:28

   The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind,

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 28:281 voice

   “The Lord shall smite thee with madness - שגעון shiggaon, distraction, so that thou shalt not know what to do. And blindness - עורון ivvaron, blindness, both physical and mental; the גרב garab, (Deu 28:27), destroying their eyes, and the judgments of God confounding their understandings. Astonishment - תמהון timmahon, stupidity and amazement. By the just judgments of God they were so completely confounded, as not to discern the means by which they might prevent or remove their calamities, and to adopt those which led directly to their ruin.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 28:28→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. 1 Samuel 16:14

   After the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, a spirit of distress from the LORD began to torment him.

   ›Commentary on 1 Samuel 16:142 voices

   “Therefore, when a person falls from the Spirit for any wickedness, if he repents after his fall, the grace remains irrevocably to the one who is willing; otherwise he who has fallen is no longer in God (because that Holy Spirit and Paraclete which is in God has deserted him), but this sinner shall be in him to whom he has subjected himself, as took place in Saul's instance; for the Spirit of God departed from him and an evil spirit was afflicting him.

   “The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul - He was thrown into such a state of mind by the judgments of God, as to be deprived of any regal qualities which he before possessed. God seems to have taken what gifts he had, and given them to David; and then the evil spirit came upon Saul; for what God fills not, the devil will. An evil spirit from the Lord - The evil spirit was either immediately sent from the Lord, or permitted to come.

   Everything gathered on 1 Samuel 16:14→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. 1 Samuel 18:10

   The next day a spirit of distress sent from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied inside the house while David played the harp as usual. Now Saul was holding a spear,

   ›Commentary on 1 Samuel 18:101 voice

   “The evil spirit from God - See on 1Sa 16:14 (note), etc. He prophesied in the midst of the house - He was beside himself; made prayers, supplications, and incoherent imprecations: “God preserve my life,” “Destroy my enemies,” or such like prayers, might frequently escape from him in his agitated state. The Arabic intimates that he was actually possessed by an evil spirit, and that through it he uttered a sort of demoniacal predictions.

   Everything gathered on 1 Samuel 18:10→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. 1 Samuel 21:13–15

   So he changed his behavior before them and feigned madness in their hands; he scratched on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down his beard.

   ›Commentary on 1 Samuel 21:13–151 voice

   “Scrabbled - literally, made marks (margin), namely, the mark of the “tau” (t), which in the ancient Hebrew and Phoenician was in the shape of a cross. (See Eze 9:4.) On the doors of the gate - The gate of Achish’s palace-yard or court, in which the attendants waited. The house itself stood in this court. (Compare Est 2:19, Est 2:21.)

   Everything gathered on 1 Samuel 21:13–15→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Proverbs 26:18

   Like a madman shooting firebrands and deadly arrows,

   ›Commentary on Proverbs 26:182 voices

   “As a mad man, who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death. Or the instruments of death, as Aben Ezra; or the sharp arrows of death, as the Targum and Syriac version; who casts firebrands into the houses and barns of his neighbours, to consume them; or arrows at their persons and cattle, to destroy them; or any other instruments of death, which none but a mad man, or one wickedly mad, would do.

   “The teacher cuts off the plea which people make when they have hurt their neighbor by lies, that they “did not mean mischief,” that they were “only in fun.” Such jesting is like that of the madman flinging firebrands or arrows.

   Everything gathered on Proverbs 26:18→

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Daniel 4:32–34

   You will be driven away from mankind to live with the beasts of the field, and you will feed on grass like an ox. And seven times will pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.”

   ›Commentary on Daniel 4:32–342 voices

   “Verses 31, 32. "While the saying was yet in the king's mouth, a voice from heaven assailed him: 'King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, thy kingdom shall pass away (variant reading: is passing away) from thee and they shall cast thee forth from among mankind.'" His arrogant boasting is immediately punished by the Lord. For this reason the execution of the sentence is not delayed, lest mercy towards the poor seem to have profited him not at all.

   “They shall make thee, etc. - Thou shalt be made to eat grass as oxen. The madness that fell upon him induced him to forsake society, and to run to the woods and deserts, where he lived like a wild beast, his hairs growing long and thick, so as to be a substitute for clothing; and his nails strong and hooked, that he might the better climb trees and grub up the ground, in order to get roots and earth-nuts. It was the mercy of God that thus clothed and accoutred him.

   Everything gathered on Daniel 4:32–34→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Zechariah 12:4

   On that day, declares the LORD, I will strike every horse with panic, and every rider with madness. I will keep a watchful eye on the house of Judah, but I will strike with blindness all the horses of the nations.

   ›Commentary on Zechariah 12:41 voice

   “I will smite every horse - Some apply this to the wars of the Maccabees with the Syrians; but it is more likely to be a prophecy not yet accomplished. The terms are too strong for such petty and evanescent victories as those of the Maccabees.

   Everything gathered on Zechariah 12:4→

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Matthew 4:24

   News about Him spread all over Syria, and people brought to Him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering acute pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed—and He healed them.

   ›Commentary on Matthew 4:242 voices

   “(Verse 24) And he healed the lunatics and the paralytics. And many crowds followed him from Galilee and Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. Not truly lunatics, but those who were thought to be lunatics due to the deceit of demons, who, by observing the phases of the moon, desired to defame creation so as to overflow with blasphemies against the Creator.

   “And his fame went throughout all Syria,.... For his ministry and miracles, especially the latter; wherefore they brought to him, that is, out of Syria, the sick. Syria was in some respects reckoned as the land of Israel, though in others not.

   Everything gathered on Matthew 4:24→

   Verse page →Original language →

9. Matthew 17:15

   “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water.

   ›Commentary on Matthew 17:151 voice

   “(Vers. 14, 15.) Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and suffers greatly: for he often falls into fire and frequently into water. And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him. This is why the devil, observing the course of the moon, seizes upon men and strives to defame the Creator through His creatures, as we have said above.

   Everything gathered on Matthew 17:15→

   Verse page →Original language →

10. Mark 3:21

    When His family heard about this, they went out to take custody of Him, saying, “He is out of His mind.”

    ›Commentary on Mark 3:212 voices

    In the gospel we read that even his kinsfolk desired to bind him as one of weak mind. His opponents also reviled him saying, "You are a Samaritan and have a devil."

    “When his friends - Greek, “they who were of him.” Not the apostles, but his relatives, his friends, who were in the place of his nativity. Heard of it - Heard of his conduct: his preaching; his appointing the apostles; his drawing such a multitude to his preaching. This shows that by “his friends” were not meant the apostles, but his neighbors and others who “heard” of his conduct.

    Everything gathered on Mark 3:21→

    Verse page →Original language →

11. John 10:20

    Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and insane. Why would you listen to Him?”

    ›Commentary on John 10:202 voices

    "And many of them said: He has a devil and is mad": whence they thought that he was mad. These were of those concerning whom First Corinthians chapter two says: "The sensual man does not perceive the things that are of God; for it is …

    “He hath a devil, and is mad - So, then, a demoniac and a madman were not exactly the same in the apprehension of the Jews; no more than the effect is the same with the cause which produces it. Some will have it that, when the Jews told our Lord that he had a demon, they meant no more than that he was deranged; but here these matters are evidently distinguished.

    Everything gathered on John 10:20→

    Verse page →Original language →

12. Acts 26:24

    At this stage of Paul’s defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, “You are insane, Paul! Your great learning is driving you to madness!”

    ›Commentary on Acts 26:241 voice

    “Festus said in a loud voice: You are insane, Paul. He deemed it insanity that a man in chains, instead of just defending himself from external accusations, made a speech about the conscience by which he gloried inside and reviewed all the miracles of the …

    Everything gathered on Acts 26:24→

    Verse page →Original language →

13. Acts 26:25

    But Paul answered, “I am not insane, most excellent Festus; I am speaking words of truth and sobriety.

    Verse page →Original language →