Luke 11:21-23

11:21 When a strong man, ¹  fully armed, guards his own palace, ²  his possessions are safe. ³  11:22 But ⁴  when a stronger man ⁵  attacks ⁶  and conquers him, he takes away the first man’s ⁷  armor on which the man relied ⁸  and divides up ⁹  his plunder. ¹⁰  11:23 Whoever is not with me is against me, ¹¹  and whoever does not gather with me scatters. ¹² 

[11:21]  ¹ tn The referent of the expression “a strong man” is Satan.

[11:21]  ² tn The word αὐλή (aulh) describes any building large and elaborate enough to have an interior courtyard, thus “dwelling, palace, mansion” (L&N 7.6).

[11:21]  ³ tn Grk “his goods are in peace.”

[11:22]  ⁴ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[11:22]  ⁵ tn The referent of the expression “a stronger man” is Jesus.

[11:22]  ⁶ tn Grk “stronger man than he attacks.”

[11:22]  ⁷ tn Grk “his”; the referent (the first man mentioned) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:22]  ⁸ tn Grk “on which he relied.”

[11:22]  ⁹ tn Or “and distributes.”

[11:22]  ¹⁰ sn 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.

[11:23]  ¹¹ sn 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.

[11:23]  ¹² sn For the image of scattering, see Pss. Sol. 17:18.