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

¹ So they landed on the other side of the sea in the region of Gerasa. ² As soon as He got out of the boat, a man under the power of a foul spirit and from the tombs met Him. ³ This man lived among the tombs, and no one could any longer subdue him even with a chain, ⁴ for he had often been fastened with fetters and chains but had snapped the chains and broken the fetters, and no one was strong enough to overpower him. ⁵ All night and all day he kept screaming among the tombs and on the hills, and kept gashing himself with stones.

⁶ On catching a glimpse of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and fell down on his knees before Him, ⁷ and screamed aloud, "What do you want of me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God's name, I beg you, do not torture me." ⁸ For Jesus was saying to him, "You foul spirit, come out of him."

⁹ He asked him, "What is your name?" He answered, "My name is Legion, for we are many." ¹⁰ And they kept on earnestly begging Him not to send them out of that country.

¹¹ Now there was a large drove of hogs grazing on the hillside. ¹² And they begged Him, "Send us among the hogs, so that we can get into them." ¹³ So He let them do so. And the foul spirits came out of the man and got into the hogs, and the drove of about two thousand rushed over the cliff and into the sea and were drowned. ¹⁴ Then the hog-feeders fled and spread the news in the town and in the country around; and the people came to see what had taken place. ¹⁵ When they came to Jesus and saw the man who had once been insane under the power of many demons, sitting, with his clothes on, and in his right mind, they were frightened. ¹⁶ And those who had seen it told them how it occurred to the man who had been under the power of the demons, and about the hogs. ¹⁷ Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood.

¹⁸ And as He was getting into the boat, the once insane man kept begging Him to let him go with Him. ¹⁹ However, He did not let him, but said to him, "Go home to your folks, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and has taken pity on you." ²⁰ And so he went away and began to tell everybody in the Ten Cities how much Jesus had done for him; and everybody was dumbfounded.

²⁶ They landed in the neighborhood of Gerasa, which is just across the lake from Galilee. ²⁷ As soon as He stepped out upon the shore, there met Him a man from town, who was under the power of demons; and for a long time he had worn no clothes, and did not stay in a house but in tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he screamed and flung himself down before Him, and said in a loud voice, "What do you want of me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you not to torture me!" ²⁹ For He was commanding the foul spirit to get out of the man. For on many occasions it had seized him, and repeatedly he had been fastened with chains and fetters under constant guard, and yet he would snap his bonds, and the demon would drive him into desert places.

³⁰ So Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" And he answered, "Legion!" For many demons had gone into him. ³¹ Then they continued to beg Him not to order them to go off to the bottomless pit.

³² Now there was a large drove of hogs feeding there on the hillside. So they begged Him to let them go into those hogs. And He let them do so. ³³ Then the demons came out of the man and went into the hogs, and the drove rushed over the cliff into the lake and were drowned. ³⁴ When the men who fed them saw what had taken place, they fled and spread the news in the town and in the country around. ³⁵ So the people went out to see what had taken place, and they went to Jesus and found the man out of whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, with his clothes on and in his right mind; and they were frightened. ³⁶ Then they who had seen it told them how the man who had been under the power of demons was cured. ³⁷ Then all the inhabitants of the country around Gerasa asked Him to go away from them, because they were terribly frightened. So He got into a boat and went back.

³⁸ The man out of whom the demons had gone begged Him to let him go with Him, but Jesus sent him away and said, ³⁹ "Go back to your home, and continue to tell what great things God has done for you." But he went off and told all over the town what great things Jesus had done for him.