Jesus Heals a Man with a Demon
26 bThen they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes,1 which is opposite Galilee. 27 When Jesus2 had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house cbut among the tombs.
3 vHe lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and wfell down before him. 7 And xcrying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, ySon of zthe Most High God? aI adjure you by God, do not torment me.” 8 For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is bLegion, for we are many.” 10 And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, 12 and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” 13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.
14 The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed1 man, the one who had had cthe legion, sitting there, dclothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 16 And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs.
37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes masked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned.
18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and ftell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in gthe Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.