Mark 5:1-20 - A Demon-Possessed Gerasene Healed

¹ Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gerasenes. ² As soon as He got out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came out of the tombs and met Him. ³ He lived in the tombs. No one was able to restrain him anymore—even with chains— ⁴ because he often had been bound with shackles and chains, but had snapped off the chains and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. ⁵ And always, night and day, he was crying out among the tombs and in the mountains and cutting himself with stones.

⁶ When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and knelt down before Him. ⁷ And he cried out with a loud voice, “What do You have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You before God, don’t torment me!” ⁸ For He had told him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

⁹ “What is your name?” He asked him.

“My name is Legion,” he answered Him, “because we are many.” ¹⁰ And he kept begging Him not to send them out of the region.

¹¹ Now a large herd of pigs was there, feeding on the hillside. ¹² The demons begged Him, “Send us to the pigs, so we may enter them.” ¹³ And He gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, and the herd of about 2,000 rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned there. ¹⁴ The men who tended them ran off and reported it in the town and the countryside, and people went to see what had happened. ¹⁵ They came to Jesus and saw the man who had been demon-possessed by the legion, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. ¹⁶ The eyewitnesses described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and told about the pigs. ¹⁷ Then they began to beg Him to leave their region.

¹⁸ As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed kept begging Him to be with Him. ¹⁹ But He would not let him; instead, He told him, “Go back home to your own people, and report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how He has had mercy on you.” ²⁰ So he went out and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed.

²⁶ Then they sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. ²⁷ When He got out on land, a demon-possessed man from the town met Him. For a long time he had worn no clothes and did not stay in a house but in the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and said in a loud voice, “What do You have to do with me, Jesus, You Son of the Most High God? I beg You, don’t torment me!” ²⁹ For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was guarded, bound by chains and shackles, he would snap the restraints and be driven by the demon into deserted places.

³⁰ “What is your name?” Jesus asked him.

“Legion,” he said—because many demons had entered him. ³¹ And they begged Him not to banish them to the abyss.

³² A large herd of pigs was there, feeding on the hillside. The demons begged Him to permit them to enter the pigs, and He gave them permission. ³³ The demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. ³⁴ When the men who tended them saw what had happened, they ran off and reported it in the town and in the countryside. ³⁵ Then people went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man the demons had departed from, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. ³⁶ Meanwhile, the eyewitnesses reported to them how the demon-possessed man was delivered. ³⁷ Then all the people of the Gerasene region asked Him to leave them, because they were gripped by great fear. So getting into the boat, He returned.

³⁸ The man from whom the demons had departed kept begging Him to be with Him. But He sent him away and said, ³⁹ “Go back to your home, and tell all that God has done for you.” And off he went, proclaiming throughout the town all that Jesus had done for him.