Luke 8:26-39

Expanded Bible

A Man with Demons Inside Him^(A)

²⁶ ·Jesus and his followers [^LThey] sailed across the lake from Galilee to the area of the Gerasene^[a] people [^CGerasa was southeast of Lake Galilee; the exact location is uncertain]. ²⁷ When Jesus got out on the land, a man from the town who ·had demons inside him [was possessed by demons] came to Jesus. For a long time he had worn no clothes and had lived in the ·burial caves [tombs], not in a house. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he ·cried out [shouted; shrieked] and fell down before him. He said with a loud voice, “·What do you want with me [Leave me alone; What business do we have with each other; ^LWhat to me and to you], Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t ·torture [torment] me!” ²⁹ He said this because Jesus was commanding [reprimanding; rebuking] the ·evil [defiling; ^Lunclean; 4:33] spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had ·taken hold of [seized; taken control of] him. Though he had been kept under guard and chained hand and foot, he had broken his chains and had been ·forced [driven] by the demon out into ·a lonely place [the desert/wilderness].

³⁰ Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

He answered, “Legion,” because many demons ·were in [had entered] him [^Ca legion was about five thousand Roman soldiers; the sense here is “many”]. ³¹ The demons begged Jesus not to ·send them [^Lcommand them to depart] into ·eternal darkness [the bottomless pit; ^Lthe Abyss]. ³² A large herd of pigs [^Cconsidered ritually unclean by Jews] was feeding on a hill, and the demons begged Jesus to allow them to go into the pigs. So Jesus allowed them to do this. ³³ When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd ·ran [rushed] down the ·hill [steep bank; precipice] into the lake and was drowned.

³⁴ When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ·ran away [fled] and ·told about [reported] this in the town and the countryside. ³⁵ And people went to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind, because the demons were gone. But the people were frightened. ³⁶ The people who saw this happen told the others how Jesus had made the [^Ldemon-possessed] man well. ³⁷ All the ·people [crowd; multitude] of the Gerasene ·country [region] asked Jesus to leave [^Lthem], because they were all ·very afraid [overwhelmed/seized with great fear]. So Jesus got into the boat and ·went back across the lake [left; ^Lreturned].

³⁸ The man ·whom Jesus had healed [^Lfrom whom the demons had gone out] begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹ “Go back home and ·tell [explain to] people ·how much [or what great things] God has done for you.” So the man went all over town ·telling [proclaiming] ·how much [or what great things] Jesus had done for him.