What Does Luke 11:25 Mean in the King James?

And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.

Luke 11:25 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

A swept and adorned house can remain empty, and its polished order leaves it vulnerable to the force that returns.

THE MEANING

The cleared space looks restored, its surfaces swept and ordered. Yet the force that left finds a house whose appearance has changed while its emptiness remains.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A life is secure as soon as its disorder has been cleared away.

THE ROOT

κεκοσμημένον

kekosmēmenon

GROWS FROM

κοσμ-

kosm-

Order, arrangement, adornment.

“garnished” in this verse is kekosmēmenon. The house is not merely clean; it has been put into an ordered, adorned state. The ⁨κοσμ-⁩ word family names arrangement, but says nothing about whether anyone dwells there.

ALSO GROWS

kosmos: Order, arrangement; the world.

κόσμος

This word family links adornment with arrangement, showing that a house can look composed without being inhabited.

kosmios: Orderly, decorous, well-arranged.

κόσμιος

The family can describe an orderly appearance or manner; Luke’s word describes the house’s condition without establishing who occupies it.

THE PATTERN

A space’s condition is disclosed by what dwells or fills it, not by visible order alone.

Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.

Matthew 12:44 · KJVThe parallel says the house is empty as well as swept and adorned, making clear that an orderly appearance and inhabitation are separate.

And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

Proverbs 24:4 · KJVThe chambers are described as filled through knowledge, revealing their condition by what occupies them.

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

Ephesians 3:17 · KJVThe heart’s condition is named through who dwells within it, beyond the state of its visible surface.

THE THREAD

For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:

1 Peter 3:5 · KJV

Peter’s “adorned” is another form of ⁨κοσμέω⁩ (kosmeō), the same word family as “garnished” here. The shared root describes both a house and a person as arranged or adorned, while Luke’s surrounding saying presses the question of what inhabits the house.

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