Luke 11:26

26 Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and [they] go in [and] live there. And the last [state] of that person becomes worse than the first!"

Luke 11:26 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 11:26

Then goeth he and taketh to him seven other spirits,
&c.] Or "demons", as the Ethiopic version, whom he took to him as his consorts and companions, as the same version calls them.

More wicked than himself;
for it seems there are degrees of wickedness among the devils, as well as among men:

and they enter and dwell there;
the unclean spirit, and the other seven: so seven devils were in Mary Magdalene, and a legion in another man; and indeed the evil heart of man is an habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit: here it may chiefly design the place and power which the devil had among the Jews before their destruction:

and the last state of that man is worse than the first;
the Persic version adds, "and more miserable"; as was the case of the Jews, to which this parable refers; as appears by what is subjoined in Matthew, which manifestly applies it to them,

even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation;
(See Gill on Matthew 12:45).

Luke 11:26 In-Context

24 "Whenever an unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it travels through waterless places searching for rest, and does not find [it]. It says, 'I will return to my house from which I came out.'

25 And [when it] arrives it finds [the house] swept and put in order.

26 Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and [they] go in [and] live there. And the last [state] of that person becomes worse than the first!"

27 Now it happened that as he said these [things], a certain woman from the crowd raised [her] voice [and] said to him, "Blessed [is] the womb that bore you, and [the] breasts [at] which you nursed!"

28 But he said, "On the contrary, blessed [are] those who hear the word of God and follow [it]!"

Footnotes

• [a] *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("go in") has been translated as a finite verb