Matthew 12:43

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

The Return of the Unclean Spirit“When an unclean spirit goes out of a person, it passes through waterless places looking for rest but does not find it.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Ps 63:1 : 1 A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness. O God, you are my God! I long for you! My soul thirsts for you, my flesh yearns for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.
  • Isa 35:6-7 : 6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, the mute tongue will shout for joy; for water will burst forth in the wilderness, streams in the arid rift valley. 7 The dry soil will become a pool of water, the parched ground springs of water. Where jackals once lived and sprawled out, grass, reeds, and papyrus will grow.
  • Isa 41:18 : 18 I will make streams flow down the slopes and produce springs in the middle of the valleys. I will turn the wilderness into a pool of water and the arid land into springs.
  • Ezek 47:8-9 : 8 He said to me,“These waters go out toward the eastern region and flow down into the rift valley; when they enter the Dead Sea, where the sea is stagnant, the waters become fresh. 9 Every living creature which swarms where the river flows will live; there will be many fish, for these waters flow there. It will become fresh and everything will live where the river flows. 10 Fishermen will stand beside it; from En Gedi to En Eglaim they will spread nets. They will catch many kinds of fish, like the fish of the Great Sea. 11 But its swamps and its marshes will not become fresh; they will remain salty. 12 On both sides of the river’s banks, every kind of tree will grow for food. Their leaves will not wither nor will their fruit fail, but they will bear fruit every month, because their water source flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”
  • Amos 8:11-13 : 11 Be certain of this, the time is coming,” says the Sovereign LORD,“when I will send a famine through the land– not a shortage of food or water but an end to divine revelation! 12 People will stagger from sea to sea, and from the north around to the east. They will wander about looking for a message from the LORD, but they will not find any. 13 In that day your beautiful young women and your young men will faint from thirst.
  • Matt 8:29 : 29 They cried out,“Son of God, leave us alone! Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
  • Mark 5:7-9 : 7 Then he cried out with a loud voice,“Leave me alone, Jesus, Son of the Most High God! I implore you by God– do not torment me!” 8 (For Jesus had said to him,“Come out of that man, you unclean spirit!”) 9 Jesus asked him,“What is your name?” And he said,“My name is Legion, for we are many.” 10 He begged Jesus repeatedly not to send them out of the region. 11 There on the hillside, a great herd of pigs was feeding. 12 And the demonic spirits begged him,“Send us into the pigs. Let us enter them.” 13 Jesus gave them permission. So the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs. Then the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake, and about two thousand were drowned in the lake.
  • Luke 8:28-32 : 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and shouted with a loud voice,“Leave me alone, Jesus, Son of the Most High God! I beg you, do not torment me!” 29 For Jesus had started commanding the evil spirit to come out of the man.(For it had seized him many times, so he would be bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard. But he would break the restraints and be driven by the demon into deserted places.) 30 Jesus then asked him,“What is your name?” He said,“Legion,” because many demons had entered him. 31 And they began to beg him not to order them to depart into the abyss. 32 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and the demonic spirits begged Jesus to let them go into them. He gave them permission.
  • Luke 11:24-26 : 24 Response to Jesus’ Work“When an unclean spirit goes out of a person, it passes through waterless places looking for rest but not finding any. Then it says,‘I will return to the home I left.’ 25 When it returns, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so the last state of that person is worse than the first.”
  • Acts 8:13 : 13 Even Simon himself believed, and after he was baptized, he stayed close to Philip constantly, and when he saw the signs and great miracles that were occurring, he was amazed.
  • 1 Pet 5:8 : 8 Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour.
  • Job 1:7 : 7 The LORD said to Satan,“Where have you come from?” And Satan answered the LORD,“From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.”
  • Job 2:2 : 2 And the LORD said to Satan,“Where do you come from?” Satan answered the LORD,“From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.”

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • 92%

    23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

    24 Response to Jesus’ Work“When an unclean spirit goes out of a person, it passes through waterless places looking for rest but not finding any. Then it says,‘I will return to the home I left.’

    25 When it returns, it finds the house swept clean and put in order.

    26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

  • 88%

    44 Then it says,‘I will return to the home I left.’ When it returns, it finds the house empty, swept clean, and put in order.

    45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so the last state of that person is worse than the first. It will be that way for this evil generation as well!”

  • Mark 5:2-4
    3 verses
    74%

    2 Just as Jesus was getting out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came from the tombs and met him.

    3 He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain.

    4 For his hands and feet had often been bound with chains and shackles, but he had torn the chains apart and broken the shackles in pieces. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

  • Mark 1:25-26
    2 verses
    74%

    25 But Jesus rebuked him:“Silence! Come out of him!”

    26 After throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him.

  • Mark 5:8-9
    2 verses
    73%

    8 (For Jesus had said to him,“Come out of that man, you unclean spirit!”)

    9 Jesus asked him,“What is your name?” And he said,“My name is Legion, for we are many.”

  • 23 Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit, and he cried out,

  • 27 As Jesus stepped ashore, a certain man from the town met him who was possessed by demons. For a long time this man had worn no clothes and had not lived in a house, but among the tombs.

  • Luke 8:38-39
    2 verses
    71%

    38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying,

    39 “Return to your home, and declare what God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole town what Jesus had done for him.

  • 33 Now in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,

  • 42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon– and now, something greater than Solomon is here!

  • 27 But no one is able to enter a strong man’s house and steal his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can thoroughly plunder his house.

  • 28 Healing the Gadarene Demoniacs When he came to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were extremely violent, so that no one was able to pass by that way.

  • Lev 14:45-46
    2 verses
    70%

    45 He must tear down the house, its stones, its wood, and all the plaster of the house, and bring all of it outside the city to an unclean place.

    46 Anyone who enters the house all the days the priest has quarantined it will be unclean until evening.

  • 69%

    29 How else can someone enter a strong man’s house and steal his property, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can thoroughly plunder the house.

    30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

  • 29 For Jesus had started commanding the evil spirit to come out of the man.(For it had seized him many times, so he would be bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard. But he would break the restraints and be driven by the demon into deserted places.)

  • 30 (because they said,“He has an unclean spirit”).

  • 26 So if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

  • 33 So the demons came out of the man and went into the pigs, and the herd of pigs rushed down the steep slope into the lake and drowned.

  • Mark 7:23-24
    2 verses
    68%

    23 All these evils come from within and defile a person.”

    24 A Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith After Jesus left there, he went to the region of Tyre. When he went into a house, he did not want anyone to know, but he was not able to escape notice.

  • 68%

    13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come on it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.

    14 And if anyone will not welcome you or listen to your message, shake the dust off your feet as you leave that house or that town.

  • 15 There is nothing outside of a person that can defile him by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles him.”

  • 35 So the people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus. They found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

  • Mark 5:12-13
    2 verses
    67%

    12 And the demonic spirits begged him,“Send us into the pigs. Let us enter them.”

    13 Jesus gave them permission. So the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs. Then the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake, and about two thousand were drowned in the lake.

  • 41 Then they shall scrape the house all around on the inside, and the plaster which they have scraped off must be dumped outside the city into an unclean place.

  • 28 he lived in ruined towns and in houses where no one lives, where they are ready to crumble into heaps.

  • 16 Then the man who was possessed by the evil spirit jumped on them and beat them all into submission. He prevailed against them so that they fled from that house naked and wounded.

  • 39 A spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions and causes him to foam at the mouth. It hardly ever leaves him alone, torturing him severely.

  • 31 Then the demons begged him,“If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

  • 36 They were all amazed and began to say to one another,“What’s happening here? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”

  • 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out,“You are the Son of God.”

  • 6 And if a peace-loving person is there, your peace will remain on him, but if not, it will return to you.

  • 43 “If the infection returns and breaks out in the house after he has pulled out the stones, scraped the house, and it is replastered,

  • 25 Now when Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it,“Mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

  • 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his possessions are safe.

  • 30 She went home and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

  • 15 They came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man sitting there, clothed and in his right mind– the one who had the“Legion”– and they were afraid.