Exegesis:
all’ ‘but’: does not contradict the statement of the previous verse, but the charge that Jesus is acting in the name of the ruler of the demons. On the contrary, the household of the strong man can be plundered only if he is bound by a stronger man.
dunatai … eiselthōn … diarpasai ‘able … entering … to plunder,’ ‘able to enter and plunder.’
tou ischurou ‘of the strong man’: Revised Standard Version, Translator’s New Testament and others translate “of a strong man” in a general sense since figurative language is being employed, however, it is perhaps better to translate literally ‘the strong man’ (which may mean Satan himself: cf. Taylor, and footnote in Translator’s New Testament).
ta skeuē autou (11.16) ‘his goods,’ ‘his belongings’; rather than the restricted sense of ‘implement,’ ‘instrument’ (cf. Gould) the meaning here is broader, including all goods or possessions. To ‘plunder his goods’ in this clause is the same as to ‘plunder his house’ in the next.
diarpasai (here only in Mark) ‘to plunder,’ ‘ransack,’ ‘rob.’
dēsē (5.3, 4; 6.17; 11.2, 4; 15.1, 7) ‘he should restrict,’ ‘he should bind,’ ‘he should tie.’
Translation:
Despite the more or less concrete form of this statement, it is essentially generic (unless there is a subtle reference to Satan, an allusion which would be difficult to render, even at best). Hence, though the Greek form speaks of ‘no one,’ in many languages generic forms must be either plural, e.g. ‘people cannot enter the houses of strong men…’ or second person, e.g. ‘you cannot enter a strong man’s house…’ (Tzeltal).
Enter here is ‘force an entrance,’ ‘go in by force,’ or ‘push your way in.’ This distinction must be maintained in some languages.
Strong refers primarily to physical strength, but having great socio-political power or reputation is in some cultures the closest equivalent. This is suggested in the Tabasco Chontal as ‘one who is not afraid of anything.’
Plunder his goods is equivalent to ‘take away what a person has.’
The order of temporal sequence may be of such importance in a language that one must reorder the clauses of this verse, e.g. ‘First, you must bind a strong man, then and only then can you enter his house and take away all he has in his house.’
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .