Jesus Cures a Demon-Possessed Man—Matthew 8:28–34; Luke 8:26–39

1 They arrived in the territory of the Gerasenes on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. 2 As Jesus stepped out of the boat, a man came out of the tombs and met him. The man was controlled by an evil spirit 3 and lived among the tombs. No one could restrain him any longer, not even with a chain. 4 He had often been chained hand and foot. However, he snapped the chains off his hands and broke the chains from his feet. No one could control him. 5 Night and day he was among the tombs and on the mountainsides screaming and cutting himself with stones. 

6 The man saw Jesus at a distance. So he ran ⸤to Jesus⸥, bowed down in front of him, 7 and shouted, “Why are you bothering me now, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me.” 8 He shouted this because Jesus said, “You evil spirit, come out of the man.” 

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

He told Jesus, “My name is Legion [Six Thousand], because there are many of us.” 10 He begged Jesus not to send them out of the territory. 

11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on a mountainside nearby. 12 The demons begged him, “Send us into the pigs! Let us enter them!” 

13 Jesus let them do this. The evil spirits came out of the man and went into the pigs. The herd of about two thousand pigs rushed down the cliff into the sea and drowned.