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 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 

Response to Jesus’ Work

11:24 “When an unclean spirit ¹³  goes out of a person, ¹⁴  it passes through waterless places ¹⁵  looking for rest but ¹⁶  not finding any. Then ¹⁷  it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’ ¹⁸  11:25 When it returns, ¹⁹  it finds the house ²⁰  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, so ²²  the last state of that person ²³  is worse than the first.” ²⁴ 

[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.

[11:24]  ¹³ sn This is a reference to an evil spirit. See Luke 4:33.

[11:24]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “man.” This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both males and females.

[11:24]  ¹⁵ 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).

[11:24]  ¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[11:24]  ¹⁷ 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.

[11:24]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “I will return to my house from which I came.”

[11:25]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “comes.”

[11:25]  ²⁰ tn The words “the house” are not in Greek but are implied.

[11:25]  ²¹ 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.

[11:26]  ²² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the concluding point of the story.

[11:26]  ²³ tn Grk “man.” This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both males and females.

[11:26]  ²⁴ sn The point of the story is that to fail to respond is to risk a worse fate than when one started.