Luke 11:21-26

11:21 When a strong man,¹ fully armed, guards his own palace,² his possessions are safe.³ 11:22 But⁴ when a stronger man⁵ attacks⁶ and conquers him, he takes away the first man’s⁷ armor on which the man relied⁸ and divides up⁹ his plunder.¹⁰ 11:23 Whoever is not with me is against me,¹¹ and whoever does not gather with me scatters.¹²

Response to Jesus’ Work

11:24 “When an unclean spirit¹³ goes out of a person,¹⁴ it passes through waterless places¹⁵ looking for rest but¹⁶ not finding any. Then¹⁷ it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’¹⁸ 11:25 When it returns,¹⁹ it finds the house²⁰ swept clean and put in order.²¹ 11:26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so²² the last state of that person²³ is worse than the first.”²⁴

¹tn The referent of the expression “a strong man” is Satan.

²tn The word αὐλή (aulh) describes any building large and elaborate enough to have an interior courtyard, thus “dwelling, palace, mansion” (L&N 7.6).

³tn Grk “his goods are in peace.”

⁴tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

⁵tn The referent of the expression “a stronger man” is Jesus.

⁶tn Grk “stronger man than he attacks.”

⁷tn Grk “his”; the referent (the first man mentioned) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸tn Grk “on which he relied.”

⁹tn Or “and distributes.”

¹⁰sn Some see the imagery here as similar to Eph 4:7-10, although no opponents are explicitly named in that passage. Jesus has the victory over Satan. Jesus’ acts of healing mean that the war is being won and the kingdom is coming.

¹¹sn Whoever is not with me is against me. The call here is to join the victor. Failure to do so means that one is being destructive. Responding to Jesus is the issue.

¹²sn For the image of scattering, see Pss. Sol. 17:18.

¹³sn This is a reference to an evil spirit. See Luke 4:33.

¹⁴tn Grk “man.” This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both males and females.

¹⁵sn The background for the reference to waterless places is not entirely clear, though some Jewish texts suggest spirits must have a place to dwell, but not with water (Luke 8:29-31; Tob 8:3). Some suggest that the image of the desert or deserted cities as the places demons dwell is where this idea started (Isa 13:21; 34:14).

¹⁶tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

¹⁷tc ‡ Most mss, including a few early and important ones (Ì⁴⁵ א* A C D W Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï lat), lack τότε (tote, “then”). Other mss, including some early and important ones (Ì⁷⁵ א² B L Θ Ξ 070 33 579 892 1241 pc co), have the adverb. Although the external evidence better supports the longer reading, the internal evidence is on the side of the shorter, for conjunctions and adverbs were frequently added by copyists to remove asyndeton and to add clarification. The shorter reading is thus preferred. The translation, however, adds “Then” because of English stylistic requirements. NA²⁷ has τότε in brackets indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

¹⁸tn Grk “I will return to my house from which I came.”

¹⁹tn Grk “comes.”

²⁰tn The words “the house” are not in Greek but are implied.

²¹sn The image of the house swept clean and put in order refers to the life of the person from whom the demon departed. The key to the example appears to be that no one else has been invited in to dwell. If an exorcism occurs and there is no response to God, then the way is free for the demon to return. Some see the reference to exorcism as more symbolic; thus the story’s only point is about responding to Jesus. This is possible and certainly is an application of the passage.

²²tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the concluding point of the story.

²³tn Grk “man.” This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both males and females.

²⁴sn The point of the story is that to fail to respond is to risk a worse fate than when one started.