Luke 8:26–39

A Man with Demons Inside Him

²⁶Jesus and his followers sailed across the lake from Galilee to the area of the Gerasene ⁿ people. ²⁷When Jesus got out on the land, a man from the town who had demons inside him came to Jesus. For a long time he had worn no clothes and had lived in the burial caves, not in a house. ²⁸When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him. He said with a loud voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” ²⁹He said this because Jesus was commanding the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had taken hold of him. Though he had been kept under guard and chained hand and foot, he had broken his chains and had been forced by the demon out into a lonely place.

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

He answered, “Legion,” ⁿ because many demons were in him. ³¹The demons begged Jesus not to send them into eternal darkness. ^{n 32}A large herd of pigs was feeding on a hill, and the demons begged Jesus to allow them to go into the pigs. So Jesus allowed them to do this. ³³When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd ran down the hill into the lake and was drowned.

³⁴When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran away and told about this in the town and the countryside. ³⁵And people went to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind, because the demons were gone. But the people were frightened. ³⁶The people who saw this happen told the others how Jesus had made the man well. ³⁷All the people of the Gerasene country asked Jesus to leave, because they were all very afraid. So Jesus got into the boat and went back to Galilee.

³⁸The man whom Jesus had healed begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹“Go back home and tell people how much God has done for you.” So the man went all over town telling how much Jesus had done for him.