1 Samuel 19:6

19:6 Saul accepted Jonathan’s advice ¹  and took an oath, “As surely as the Lord lives, he will not be put to death.”

Hosea 6:4

Transitory Faithfulness and Imminent Judgment

6:4 What am I going to do with you, O Ephraim?

What am I going to do with you, O Judah?

For ²  your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist; ³ 

it disappears as quickly as dawn’s dew! ⁴ 

Matthew 12:43-45

The Return of the Unclean Spirit

12:43 “When ⁵  an unclean spirit ⁶  goes out of a person, ⁷  it passes through waterless places ⁸  looking for rest but ⁹  does not find it. 12:44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’ ¹⁰  When it returns, ¹¹  it finds the house ¹²  empty, swept clean, and put in order. ¹³  12:45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so ¹⁴  the last state of that person is worse than the first. It will be that way for this evil generation as well!”

Luke 11:24-26

Response to Jesus’ Work

11:24 “When an unclean spirit ¹⁵  goes out of a person, ¹⁶  it passes through waterless places ¹⁷  looking for rest but ¹⁸  not finding any. Then ¹⁹  it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’ ²⁰  11:25 When it returns, ²¹  it finds the house ²²  swept clean and put in order. ²³  11:26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so ²⁴  the last state of that person ²⁵  is worse than the first.” ²⁶ 

Luke 11:2

11:2 So he said to them, “When you pray, ²⁷  say:

Father, ²⁸  may your name be honored; ²⁹ 

may your kingdom come. ³⁰ 

Luke 2:20-22

2:20 So ³¹  the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising ³²  God for all they had heard and seen; everything was just as they had been told. ³³ 

2:21 At ³⁴  the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given by the angel ³⁵  before he was conceived in the womb.

Jesus’ Presentation at the Temple

2:22 Now ³⁶  when the time came for their ³⁷  purification according to the law of Moses, Joseph and Mary ³⁸  brought Jesus ³⁹  up to Jerusalem ⁴⁰  to present him to the Lord

¹ tn Heb “and Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan.”

² tn The vav prefixed to וְחַסְדְּכֶם (vÿkhasdÿkhem, “your faithfulness”) functions in an explanatory sense (“For”).

³ tn Heb “your faithfulness [so NCV; NASB “your loyalty”; NIV, NRSV, NLT “your love”] is like a morning cloud” (וְחַסְדְּכֶם כַּעֲנַן־בֹּקֶר, vÿkhasdÿkhem ka’anan-boqer).

⁴ tn Heb “the dew departing early” (BDB 1014 s.v. שָׁכַם); cf. NRSV “the dew that goes away early.” The Hiphil participle מַשְׁכִּים (mashkim) means “to depart early” (Gen 19:27; Josh 8:14; Judg 19:9). The idiom means “early morning” (1 Sam 17:16).

⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁶ sn Unclean spirit refers to an evil spirit.

⁷ tn Grk “man.” This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both males and females. This same use occurs in v. 45.

⁸ sn 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).

⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

¹⁰ tn Grk “I will return to my house from which I came.”

¹¹ tn Grk “comes.”

¹² tn The words “the house” are not in Greek but are implied.

¹³ sn The image of the house empty, 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.

¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the concluding point of the story.

¹⁵ sn This is a reference to an evil spirit. See Luke 4:33.

¹⁶ tn Grk “man.” This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both males and females.

¹⁷ sn 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).

¹⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

¹⁹ tc ‡ 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.

²⁰ tn Grk “I will return to my house from which I came.”

²¹ tn Grk “comes.”

²² tn The words “the house” are not in Greek but are implied.

²³ sn 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.

²⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the concluding point of the story.

²⁵ tn Grk “man.” This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both males and females.

²⁶ sn The point of the story is that to fail to respond is to risk a worse fate than when one started.

²⁷ sn When you pray. What follows, although traditionally known as the Lord’s prayer, is really the disciples’ prayer. It represents how they are to approach God, by acknowledging his uniqueness and their need for his provision and protection.

²⁸ tc Most mss, including later majority (A C D W Θ Ψ 070 ˹³ 33^vid Ï it), add ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς (Jhmwn Jo en toi" oujranoi", “our [Father] in heaven”) here. This makes the prayer begin like the version in Matt 6:9. The shorter version is read by Ì⁷⁵ א B (L: + ἡμῶν) 1 700 pc as well as some versions and fathers. Given this more weighty external evidence, combined with the scribal tendency to harmonize Gospel parallels, the shorter reading is preferred.

²⁹ tn Grk “hallowed be your name.”

³⁰ tc Most mss (א A C D W Θ Ψ 070 ˹³ 33^vid Ï it) read at the end of the verse “may your will be done on earth as [it is] in heaven,” making this version parallel to Matt 6:10. The shorter reading is found, however, in weighty mss (Ì⁷⁵ B L pc), and cannot be easily explained as arising from the longer reading.

³¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the conclusion of the topic.

³² sn The mention of glorifying and praising God is the second note of praise in this section; see Luke 2:13-14.

³³ tn Grk “just as [it] had been spoken to them.” This has been simplified in the English translation by making the prepositional phrase (“to them”) the subject of the passive verb.

³⁴ tn Grk “And when eight days were completed.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

³⁵ sn Jesus’ parents obeyed the angel as Zechariah and Elizabeth had (1:57-66). These events are taking place very much under God’s direction.

³⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

³⁷ tc The translation follows most mss, including early and important ones ({א A B L}). Some copyists, aware that the purification law applied to women only, produced mss ({76 it^pt vg} [though the Latin word eius could be either masculine or feminine]) that read “her purification.” But the extant evidence for an unambiguous “her” is shut up to one late minuscule ({codex 76}) and a couple of patristic citations of dubious worth ({Pseudo-Athanasius} whose date is unknown, and the {Catenae in euangelia Lucae et Joannis}, edited by J. A. Cramer. The Catenae is a work of collected patristic sayings whose exact source is unknown [thus, it could come from a period covering hundreds of years]). A few other witnesses (D pc lat) read “his purification.” The KJV has “her purification,” following Beza’s Greek text (essentially a revision of Erasmus’). Erasmus did not have it in any of his five editions. Most likely Beza put in the feminine form αὐτῆς (auths) because, recognizing that the eius found in several Latin mss could be read either as a masculine or a feminine, he made the contextually more satisfying choice of the feminine. Perhaps it crept into one or two late Greek witnesses via this interpretive Latin back-translation. So the evidence for the feminine singular is virtually nonexistent, while the masculine singular αὐτοῦ (autou, “his”) was a clear scribal blunder. There can be no doubt that “their purification” is the authentic reading.

³⁸ tn Grk “they”; the referents (Joseph and Mary) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

³⁹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴⁰ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.