Matthew 12:43-45

The Return of the Unclean Spirit

12:43 “When ¹  an unclean spirit ²  goes out of a person, ³  it passes through waterless places ⁴  looking for rest but ⁵  does not find it. 12:44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’ ⁶  When it returns, ⁷  it finds the house ⁸  empty, swept clean, and put in order. ⁹  12:45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so ¹⁰  the last state of that person is worse than the first. It will be that way for this evil generation as well!”

Matthew 13:19-22

13:19 When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one ¹¹  comes and snatches what was sown in his heart; ¹²  this is the seed sown along the path. 13:20 The ¹³  seed sown on rocky ground ¹⁴  is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. 13:21 But he has no root in himself and does not endure; ¹⁵  when ¹⁶  trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away. 13:22 The ¹⁷  seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth ¹⁸  choke the word, ¹⁹  so it produces nothing.

Ezekiel 13:10-16

13:10 “‘This is because they have led my people astray saying, “All is well,” ²⁰  when things are not well. When anyone builds a wall without mortar, ²¹  they coat it with whitewash. 13:11 Tell the ones who coat it with whitewash that it will fall. When there is a deluge of rain, hailstones ²²  will fall and a violent wind will break out. ²³  13:12 When the wall has collapsed, people will ask you, “Where is the whitewash you coated it with?”

13:13 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: In my rage I will make a violent wind break out. In my anger there will be a deluge of rain and hailstones in destructive fury. 13:14 I will break down the wall you coated with whitewash and knock it to the ground so that its foundation is exposed. When it falls you will be destroyed beneath it, ²⁴  and you will know that I am the Lord. 13:15 I will vent my rage against the wall, and against those who coated it with whitewash. Then I will say to you, “The wall is no more and those who whitewashed it are no more – 13:16 those prophets of Israel who would prophesy about Jerusalem ²⁵  and would see visions of peace for it, when there was no peace,” declares the sovereign Lord.’

Ezekiel 13:1

False Prophets Denounced

13:1 Then the word of the Lord came to me:

Colossians 3:13

3:13 bearing with one another and forgiving ²⁶  one another, if someone happens to have ²⁷  a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others. ²⁸ 

Hebrews 10:26-31

10:26 For if we deliberately keep on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins is left for us, ²⁹  10:27 but only a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a fury ³⁰  of fire that will consume God’s enemies. ³¹  10:28 Someone who rejected the law of Moses was put to death ³²  without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ³³  10:29 How much greater punishment do you think that person deserves who has contempt for ³⁴  the Son of God, and profanes ³⁵  the blood of the covenant that made him holy, ³⁶  and insults the Spirit of grace? 10:30 For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” ³⁷  and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” ³⁸  10:31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Hebrews 10:2

10:2 For otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers would have been purified once for all and so have ³⁹  no further consciousness of sin?

Hebrews 2:1

Warning Against Drifting Away

2:1 Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

[12:43]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[12:43]  ² sn Unclean spirit refers to an evil spirit.

[12:43]  ³ tn Grk “man.” This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both males and females. This same use occurs in v. 45.

[12:43]  ⁴ 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).

[12:43]  ⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[12:44]  ⁶ tn Grk “I will return to my house from which I came.”

[12:44]  ⁷ tn Grk “comes.”

[12:44]  ⁸ tn The words “the house” are not in Greek but are implied.

[12:44]  ⁹ 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.

[12:45]  ¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the concluding point of the story.

[13:19]  ¹¹ sn Interestingly, the synoptic parallels each use a different word for Satan here: Mark 4:15 has “Satan,” while Luke 8:12 has “the devil.” This illustrates the fluidity of the gospel tradition in often using synonyms at the same point of the parallel tradition.

[13:19]  ¹² sn The word of Jesus has the potential to save if it germinates in a person’s heart, something the devil is very much against.

[13:20]  ¹³ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[13:20]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “The one sown on rocky ground, this is the one.” The next two statements like this one have this same syntactical structure.

[13:21]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “is temporary.”

[13:21]  ¹⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[13:22]  ¹⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[13:22]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the deceitfulness of riches.” Cf. BDAG 99 s.v. ἀπάτη 1, “the seduction which comes from wealth.”

[13:22]  ¹⁹ sn That is, their concern for spiritual things is crowded out by material things.

[13:10]  ²⁰ tn Or “peace.”

[13:10]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew word only occurs here in the Bible. According to L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 1:202-3) it is also used in the Mishnah of a wall of rough stones without mortar. This fits the context here comparing the false prophetic messages to a nice coat of whitewash on a structurally unstable wall.

[13:11]  ²² tn Heb “and you, O hailstones.”

[13:11]  ²³ sn A violent wind will break out. God’s judgments are frequently described in storm imagery (Pss 18:7-15; 77:17-18; 83:15; Isa 28:17; 30:30; Jer 23:19; 30:23).

[13:14]  ²⁴ tn Or “within it,” referring to the city of Jerusalem.

[13:16]  ²⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:13]  ²⁶ tn For the translation of χαριζόμενοι (carizomenoi) as “forgiving,” see BDAG 1078 s.v. χαρίζομαι 3. The two participles “bearing” (ἀνεχόμενοι, anecomenoi) and “forgiving” (χαριζόμενοι) express the means by which the action of the finite verb “clothe yourselves” is to be carried out.

[3:13]  ²⁷ tn Grk “if someone has”; the term “happens,” though not in the Greek text, is inserted to bring out the force of the third class condition.

[3:13]  ²⁸ tn The expression “forgive others” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. It is included in the translation to make the sentence complete and more comprehensible to the English reader.

[10:26]  ²⁹ tn Grk “is left,” with “for us” implied by the first half of the verse.

[10:27]  ³⁰ tn Grk “zeal,” recalling God’s jealous protection of his holiness and honor (cf. Exod 20:5).

[10:27]  ³¹ tn Grk “the enemies.”

[10:28]  ³² tn Grk “dies.”

[10:28]  ³³ sn An allusion to Deut 17:6.

[10:29]  ³⁴ tn Grk “tramples under foot.”

[10:29]  ³⁵ tn Grk “regarded as common.”

[10:29]  ³⁶ tn Grk “by which he was made holy.”

[10:30]  ³⁷ sn A quotation from Deut 32:35.

[10:30]  ³⁸ sn A quotation from Deut 32:36.

[10:2]  ³⁹ tn Grk “the worshipers, having been purified once for all, would have.”