Mark 5:1-20

Expanded Bible

A Man with Demons Inside Him^(A)

5 ·Jesus and his followers [^LThey] went to the other side of the lake to the ·area [land; region] of the ·Gerasene^[a] people [^CGerasa was southeast of Lake Galilee; the exact location is uncertain]. ² When Jesus got out of the boat, immediately a man with an ·evil [defiling; ^Lunclean] spirit came to him from the ·burial caves [tombs; cemetery]. ³ This man lived in the ·caves [tombs], and no one could tie him up [any more], not even with a chain. ⁴ [For] Many times people had used [shackles and] chains to tie the man’s hands and feet, but he always ·broke them off [tore apart the chains and smashed the shackles]. No one was strong enough to ·control [subdue] him. ⁵ Day and night he would wander around the ·burial caves [tombs] and on the hills, screaming and ·cutting [bruising] himself with stones. ⁶ While Jesus was still far away, the man saw him, ran to him, and ·fell [bowed] down before him.

⁷ The man shouted in a loud voice, “·What do you want with me [Let me alone; What business do we have with each other; ^LWhat to me and to you; see 1:24], Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I ·command [beg; implore; swear to] you in God’s name not to ·torture [torment] me!” ⁸ He said this because Jesus was saying to him, “You ·evil [defiling; ^Lunclean] spirit, come out of the man.”

⁹ Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

He answered, “My name is Legion [^Ca legion was about 5,000 soldiers in the Roman army], because we are many spirits.” ¹⁰ He begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of that ·area [land; region].

¹¹ A large herd of pigs was feeding on a hill near there. ¹² The demons begged Jesus, “Send us into the pigs; let us go into them.” ¹³ So Jesus allowed them to do this. The ·evil [defiling; ^Lunclean] spirits left the man and went into the pigs. Then the herd of pigs—about two thousand of them—rushed down the ·hill [steep bank; precipice] into the lake and were drowned.

¹⁴ The herdsmen ran away and went to the town and to the countryside, telling everyone about this. So people went out to see what had happened. ¹⁵ They came to Jesus and saw the man who used to have ·the many evil spirits [^Lthe “legion”], sitting, clothed, and in his right mind. And they were frightened. ¹⁶ The people who saw this told the others what had happened to the man who had ·the demons living in him [been demon-possessed], and they told about the pigs. ¹⁷ Then the people began to beg Jesus to leave their area.

¹⁸ As Jesus was getting back into the boat, the man who ·was freed from the demons [had been demon-possessed] begged to go with him.

¹⁹ But Jesus would not let him. He said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.” ²⁰ So the man left and began to ·tell [proclaim/preach to] the people in the ·Ten Towns [or Decapolis; ^Ca league of ten cities east of Lake Galilee] about what Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.