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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 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 V39 V41 V43 V45 V47 V49 V51 V53 V55
OET (OET-LV) And all the multitude of_the surrounding_region of_the Gerasaʸnōn asked, him, to_go_away from them, because they_were_being_gripped_with with_ great _fear.
And he having_boarded, into the_boat, returned.
OET (OET-RV) Then all those people from the Gerasenes region asked Yeshua to leave the area, because they were quite terrified, so he got back into the boat and they headed back to the other side.
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.
Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to depart from them,
Then all the people of/from the Gerasa area asked Jesus to go away from them.
As a result, the people from the town of Gerasa and the surrounding area requested Jesus to leave their area,
all the people of the region of the Gerasenes: The phrase that the BSB translates as all the people is literally “all the multitude.” It is a hyperboleThe majority of English versions have translated this as hyperbole. However, an alternative is to understand ἅπαν τὸ πλῆθος (“all the crowd”) as the crowd of people who came out to see Jesus and the demoniac. This is in keeping with how Luke uses the expression elsewhere to mean “all the gathered crowd” (1:10, 19:37, 23:1). “All” then modifies only “the crowd” and not “the region of the Gerasenes” which simply describes the origin of the crowd: “all the crowd [who had come out see what happened] who were from the region of the Gerasenes…” that emphasizes that the people of the region rejected Jesus. It refers to the population as a whole, but it probably does not mean that every person in the region asked him to leave. In some languages it may be good to translate this as “the people” rather than all the people.
the region of the Gerasenes: See how you translated this phrase at 8:26a. A discussion of the textual issue concerning Gerasenes is found at 8:26a.
asked Jesus to depart from them: The request for Jesus to depart from them implies that the people wanted him to leave the area. There are two ways to translate this:
As indirect speech. For example:
all the people…asked Jesus to leave (GW)
all the people…begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone (NLT)
As direct speech. For example:
all the people…asked Jesus, “Please leave us.”
because great fear had taken hold of them.
They asked him this because they were very much afraid.
for they were absolutely terrified at what had happened.
great fear had taken hold of them: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as great fear had taken hold of them is literally “they were distressed/tormented with great fear.” The phrase emphasizes that the people were very afraid. Use a strong expression in your language. Many languages may have an idiomatic expression to describe such fear. Some other ways to translate this in English are:
they were seized with great fear (RSV)
they were terribly afraid (GNT)
they were thoroughly frightened (JBP)
they were terrified (GW)
In some languages it may be more natural to place the reason in 8:37b before its result in 8:37a. For example:
37bThen all the people of the region of the Gerasenes were seized with great fear 37aso they asked Jesus to go away from them.
So He got into the boat and started back.
And Jesus boarded the boat in order to leave.
So he went/climbed into the boat with his followers and they were about to leave.
He got into the boat and started back: Jesus did not actually leave until after he had talked with the man in 8:38–39. If this might be a problem in your language, here are options to consider:
Translate 8:37c in a way that indicates intention to leave or preparation to leave. For example:
he got into the boat in order to return
he got into the boat and prepared to leave
Translate 8:38a with an explanation that before Jesus actually left, the man asked him if he might go with him. For example:
But before he left, the man…
He got into the boat: Some languages may have a specific word for this action such as “board” or “embark” in English. If not, you could simply say that Jesus “stepped/climbed/went into the boat.”
When Jesus got into the boat, his disciples also got into it. The author does not mention the disciples here, because Jesus is in focus. However, in some languages if a translator does not mention the disciples, it may imply that they stayed in the region. This is especially true if the translation mentions in 8:27a that they got out of the boat. If that is true in your language, here are some ways that you could include them:
Jesus along with the disciples got into the boat…
Jesus and the disciples got into the boat…
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / hyperbole
ἅπαν τὸ πλῆθος τῆς περιχώρου
all (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ἠρώτησεν αὐτόν ἅπαν τό πλῆθος τῆς περιχώρου τῶν Γερασηνῶν ἀπελθεῖν ἀπʼ αὐτῶν ὅτι φόβῳ μεγάλῳ συνείχοντο αὐτός Δέ ἐμβάς εἰς πλοῖον ὑπέστρεψεν)
This phrase means “everyone who lived in that area.” It is a generalization for emphasis, since every single resident of that region did not make this request. Rather, this was the general request of the crowd that came out to see what had happened. Alternate translation: [the crowd that had gathered from the region]
τῆς περιχώρου τῶν Γερασηνῶν
˱of˲_the surrounding_region ˱of˲_the Gerasenes
Alternate translation: [the area where the Gerasene people lived]
Note 2 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result
ὅτι φόβῳ μεγάλῳ συνείχοντο
because ˱with˲_fear great ˱they˲_˓were_being˒_gripped_with
If it would be helpful in your language, you could put this phrase first in the sentence, since it gives the reason for the result that the rest of the sentence describes.
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
φόβῳ μεγάλῳ συνείχοντο
˱with˲_fear great ˱they˲_˓were_being˒_gripped_with
If it would be helpful in your language, you could express this with an active form. Alternate translation: [they became very afraid]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / personification
φόβῳ μεγάλῳ συνείχοντο
˱with˲_fear great ˱they˲_˓were_being˒_gripped_with
Luke speaks of this fear as if it were something that could actively take hold of these people. Alternate translation: [they became very afraid]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / synecdoche
αὐτὸς δὲ ἐμβὰς, εἰς πλοῖον
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ἠρώτησεν αὐτόν ἅπαν τό πλῆθος τῆς περιχώρου τῶν Γερασηνῶν ἀπελθεῖν ἀπʼ αὐτῶν ὅτι φόβῳ μεγάλῳ συνείχοντο αὐτός Δέ ἐμβάς εἰς πλοῖον ὑπέστρεψεν)
Luke says he, meaning Jesus, to describe the entire group of Jesus and his disciples. Alternate translation: [Jesus and his disciples got into the boat]
Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ὑπέστρεψεν
returned
The implication is that Jesus and his disciples were going to return to Galilee. Alternate translation: [to go back across the lake]
8:37 begged Jesus to go away: Jesus’ power over spiritual forces frightened the townspeople, and their loss of property (the pigs) angered them. Their rejection contrasts with the faith of the healed man.
OET (OET-LV) And all the multitude of_the surrounding_region of_the Gerasaʸnōn asked, him, to_go_away from them, because they_were_being_gripped_with with_ great _fear.
And he having_boarded, into the_boat, returned.
OET (OET-RV) Then all those people from the Gerasenes region asked Yeshua to leave the area, because they were quite terrified, so he got back into the boat and they headed back to the other side.
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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