The Demons and the Pigs

(Matthew 8:28–34, Luke 8:26–39)

5 On the other side of the sea, they arrived in the region of the Gerasenes.[fn] 2 As soon as [Jesus] got out of the boat, He was met by a man with an unclean spirit, [who was] coming from the tombs. 3 [This man] had been living in the tombs and could no longer be restrained [even] with chains. 4 [Though] he {was} often bound with chains and shackles, he had broken the chains and shattered the shackles. Now [there was] no one with the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day in the tombs and in the mountains he kept crying out and cutting himself with stones.

6 When [the man] saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees before Him. 7 And he shouted in a loud voice “What do You [want] with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You before God not to torture me!” 8 For [Jesus] had already declared “Come out of [this] man {you} unclean spirit!”

9 “What [is] your name?” [Jesus] asked “My name [is] Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” 10 And he begged [Jesus] repeatedly not to send them out of [that] region.

11 There on the nearby hillside a large herd of pigs was feeding. 12 [So] [the demons] begged [Jesus] “Send us to the pigs, so that we may enter them.”

13 He gave them permission and the unclean spirits came out [and] went into the pigs, and the herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the [water].[fn]

14 Those tending [the pigs] ran off and reported [this] in the town and countryside, and [the people] went out to see what had happened. 15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the [man] who had been possessed by the legion {of demons} sitting [there], clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

16 Those who had seen [it] described what had happened to the demon-possessed man and [also to] the pigs. 17 And [the people] began to beg [Jesus] to leave their region.

18 As He was getting into the boat, the [man] who had been possessed by the demons begged to go with Him. 19 But [Jesus] would not allow him. “Go home to your own [people],” He said “and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy He has shown you.”

20 [So] [the man] went away and began to proclaim throughout the Decapolis[fn] how much Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.