Says must be given the meaning “says to itself” (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) or “thinks.” This sentence can also be in indirect speech; for example, “Then it decides to return to the house it came from.”

My house from which I came can be “my former home” or “the place that I left.”

Comes in this context can also be “arrives there” or “returns.”

Finds should not be translated with the sense of finding something that was lost. It means here that the spirit discovers or sees that now this home is empty.

Empty, swept, and put in order is translated “vacant, clean, and all in order” by Moffatt and “unoccupied, cleaned, and all in order” by An American Translation.

Empty translates a participle derived from a verb which, when used of a place or a house, means “empty,” “vacant,” “unoccupied.” As stated earlier, this information is not found in the Lukan parallel.

Swept (Good News Translation “clean,” New English Bible “swept clean”) translates a participle made from a verb meaning “sweep.” Elsewhere in the New Testament the verb occurs only in Luke 15.8.

Put in order (Good News Translation “all fixed up”) translates a participle made from a verb which may mean either “put in order” or “decorate.” Evidently most translations prefer the meaning adopted by Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible.

Swept and put in order are both passives, and this may be a problem in some languages where agents are required. Swept could possibly be “clean.” Another way is to supply an agent and use an active sentence, as in “(He saw that) someone had swept it out and put everything in the proper place.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .