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

¹ They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. ² When he had come out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit met him out of the tombs. ³ He lived in the tombs. Nobody could bind him any more, not even with chains, ⁴ because he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. Nobody had the strength to tame him. ⁵ Always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones.

⁶ When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and bowed down to him, ⁷ and crying out with a loud voice, he said, "What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, don't torment me." ⁸ For he said to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!"

⁹ He asked him, "What is your name?" He said to him, "My name is Legion, for we are many." ¹⁰ He begged him much that he would not send them away out of the country.

¹¹ Now on the mountainside there was a great herd of pigs feeding. ¹² All the demons begged him, saying, "Send us into the pigs, that we may enter into them." ¹³ At once Jesus gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and entered into the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and they were drowned in the sea. ¹⁴ Those who fed them fled, and told it in the city and in the country. The people came to see what it was that had happened. ¹⁵ They came to Jesus, and saw him who had been possessed by demons sitting, clothed, and in his right mind, even him who had the legion; and they were afraid. ¹⁶ Those who saw it declared to them how it happened to him who was possessed by demons, and about the pigs. ¹⁷ They began to beg him to depart from their region.

¹⁸ As he was entering into the boat, he who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him. ¹⁹ He didn't allow him, but said to him, "Go to your house, to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he had mercy on you." ²⁰ He went his way, and began to proclaim in Decapolis how Jesus had done great things for him, and everyone marveled.

²⁶ They arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee. ²⁷ When Jesus stepped ashore, a certain man out of the city who had demons for a long time met him. He wore no clothes, and didn't live in a house, but in the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, "What do I have to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torment me!" ²⁹ For Jesus was commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For the unclean spirit had often seized the man. He was kept under guard, and bound with chains and fetters. Breaking the bands apart, he was driven by the demon into the desert.

³⁰ Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "Legion," for many demons had entered into him. ³¹ They begged him that he would not command them to go into the abyss.

³² Now there was there a herd of many pigs feeding on the mountain, and they begged him that he would allow them to enter into those. He allowed them. ³³ The demons came out from the man, and entered into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake, and were drowned. ³⁴ When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled, and told it in the city and in the country. ³⁵ People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. ³⁶ Those who saw it told them how he who had been possessed by demons was healed. ³⁷ All the people of the surrounding country of the Gadarenes asked him to depart from them, for they were very much afraid. He entered into the boat, and returned.

³⁸ But the man from whom the demons had gone out begged him that he might go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹ "Return to your house, and declare what great things God has done for you." He went his way, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.