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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT ESA WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
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Luke 8 V1 V3 V5 V7 V9 V11 V13 V15 V17 V19 V21 V23 V25 V27 V29 V31 V33 V35 V37 V39 V41 V43 V45 V47 V49 V51 V53 V55
OET (OET-LV) And the Yaʸsous asked him:
What to_you is the_name?
And he said:
Many_thousands, because many demons came_in into him.
OET (OET-RV) “What’s your name?” Yeshua asked.
¶ “Thousands,” he answered, because many thousands of demons had entered him
After the storm in the preceding section, Jesus and his disciples arrived at the northeastern shore of Lake Galilee. Most of the people who lived in this region were Gentiles. A man who was controlled by many demons immediately came to Jesus. Jesus commanded the demons to leave the man. When they left, they went to control a large herd of pigs and destroyed them. When Jesus freed the man from these demons, he showed his great power over them.
“Uncleanness” is a theme in this story. The spirits that controlled the man were considered “unclean” (and called “unclean” in 8:29a). Tombs were “unclean.” Jews also considered pigs to be “unclean.”
When people saw that Jesus had caused the demons to leave the man and enter the pigs, they asked him to leave the area. Their response showed that even when people saw that Jesus was very powerful, sometimes they still would not believe in him or accept him as the Messiah.
Some other possible headings for this section are:
Jesus commanded many demons to leave a man
The deliverance of a man who was controlled by many demons
There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 8:28–34 and Mark 5:1–20.
In this paragraph Luke told about events that happened when Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the lake. Several times Luke inserted background information about the past. In some languages speakers often shift in this way between telling events and giving background information to explain them. Use natural ways to do this in your language.
In some languages this shift between actions and background information may be confusing. You may need to change the order of some information in these verses. See the General Comment on 8:27a–28a at the end of the notes on 8:28a and the longer General Comment on 8:27–29 at the end of the notes on 8:29e for suggestions.
“What is your name?” Jesus asked.
Jesus asked him, “What is your(sing) name?”
Then Jesus asked the man, “How do you call yourself?(sing)”
Jesus asked: Jesus asked the man what his name was. But it was the demon who answered, speaking through the man.
“Legion,” he replied,
And he said, “Army,”
He answered, “My/Our name is ‘Thousands.’”
Legion: The word Legion referred to the largest unit of soldiers in the Roman army. A legion had between four thousand and six thousand soldiers. The demon called himself Legion because there were many demons along with him that were controlling the man.
Here are some ways to translate Legion in this context:
Preferably, use a military word that describes a large group of soldiers. For example:
Army
Regiment
Thousands of Soldiers
Use a word that describes a large number. It should be large enough to go well with the two thousand pigs mentioned in Mark 5:13. For example:
Hundreds/Thousands
Use a word that describes a very large group of people. For example:
Crowd
Horde
Mob (GNT)
he replied: In the Greek text, the words that the BSB translates as he replied come before the demon’s speech. The BSB has placed the phrase he replied after what the demon said because that is natural in English for this context. Place it where it is most natural in your language.
because many demons had gone into him.
for/because many demons controlled him.
He said this because many demons were with him in the man.
because many demons had gone into him: When a demon controlled a person, the Jews thought of the demon as being in the person. Use a natural way in your language to describe when a demon begins to control a person.
demons: The Greek word that the BSB translates as demons is the same word as in 8:27b.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / you
σοι
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐπηρώτησεν Δέ αὐτόν ὁ Ἰησοῦς Τί σοί ὄνομα ἐστίν ὁ Δέ εἶπεν Λεγεών ὅτι εἰσῆλθεν δαιμόνια πολλά εἰς αὐτόν)
Since Luke indicates in the previous verse that Jesus is speaking to the unclean spirit here, your is singular, even though the demon responds that he is speaking for “many,” and even though in the following verses Luke says they and them for the multiple demons.
Note 2 topic: translate-names
λεγεών
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐπηρώτησεν Δέ αὐτόν ὁ Ἰησοῦς Τί σοί ὄνομα ἐστίν ὁ Δέ εἶπεν Λεγεών ὅτι εἰσῆλθεν δαιμόνια πολλά εἰς αὐτόν)
Translate the word Legion with a word in your language that refers to a large number of soldiers. Show that this was the name of the demon by using the convention in your language for proper names. Alternate translation: [Army] or [Battalion] or [Brigade]
OET (OET-LV) And the Yaʸsous asked him:
What to_you is the_name?
And he said:
Many_thousands, because many demons came_in into him.
OET (OET-RV) “What’s your name?” Yeshua asked.
¶ “Thousands,” he answered, because many thousands of demons had entered him
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
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