Luke 11:26

26 It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits dirtier than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. That person ends up far worse than if he'd never gotten cleaned up in the first place."

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 "When a corrupting spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. When it doesn't find anyone, it says, 'I'll go back to my old haunt.'

25 On return, it finds the person swept and dusted, but vacant.

26 It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits dirtier than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. That person ends up far worse than if he'd never gotten cleaned up in the first place."

27 While he was saying these things, some woman lifted her voice above the murmur of the crowd: "Blessed the womb that carried you, and the breasts at which you nursed!"

28 Jesus commented, "Even more blessed are those who hear God's Word and guard it with their lives!"