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Connecting Statement:
Jesus continues to rebuke the scribes and Pharisees.
When an unclean spirit ... with this evil generation
Jesus tells a parable to warn the people of the danger of not believing him. (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-parables)
waterless places
"dry places" or "places where no people live"
does not find it
Here "it" refers to rest.
Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.'
This can be translated as a statement rather than a quotation. AT: "So, the unclean spirit decides to return to the house from which it came"
to my house from which I came
This is a metaphor for the person in whom the unclean spirit was living. AT: "to the place I left" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor)
it finds that house swept out and put in order
This can be stated in active form. AT: "the unclean spirit finds that someone has swept the house clean and has put everything in the house where it belongs" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-activepassive)
that house swept out and put in order
Again, "house" is a metaphor for the person in whom the unclean spirit was living. Here, "swept out and put in order" suggests that no one is living in the house. Jesus means when an unclean spirit leaves a person, the person must invite the Holy Spirit to live in him or else the demon will come back. (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor)
It will be just like that with this evil generation
This means that if the people of Jesus' generation do not believe him and become his disciples, they will be in a worse situation than they were before he came.