Matthew 8:28-34

Contemporary English Version

Two Men with Demons in Them

(Mark 5.1-20; Luke 8.26-39)

²⁸After Jesus had crossed the lake, he came to shore near the town of Gadara^[a] and started down the road. Two men with demons in them came to him from the tombs.^[b] They were so fierce that no one could travel that way. ²⁹Suddenly they shouted, “Jesus, Son of God, what do you want with us? Have you come to punish us before our time?”

³⁰Not far from there a large herd of pigs was feeding. ³¹So the demons begged Jesus, “If you force us out, please send us into those pigs!” ³²Jesus told them to go, and they went out of the men and into the pigs. All at once the pigs rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.

³³The people taking care of the pigs ran to the town and told everything, especially what had happened to the two men. ³⁴Everyone in town came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their part of the country.

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Footnotes

8.28 Gadara: Some manuscripts have “Gergesa.” Others have “Gerasa.”
8.28 tombs: It was thought that demons and evil spirits lived in tombs and in caves that were used for burying the dead.