Bill B. answered • 03/05/21
Tutor
New to Wyzant
Bill Art, Guitar, French, and Excel Tutor
The story of the man possessed by demons is in chapter 5 of the book of Mark. I have pasted the NIV version below.
5 They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.[a] 2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him.3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. 7 He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”
9 Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.”10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.
11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside.12 The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” 13 He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
14 Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. 15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 16 Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. 17 Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
Sorita D.
The name by which one of the two demon-possessed men, whom Christ Jesus encountered in the region E of the Sea of Galilee, identified himself. Evidently, though, Legion was not his actual name, as it referred to his being possessed by many demons. Possibly the chief one of these demons caused this man to say that his name was Legion. The fact that in the first century C.E. Roman legions usually consisted of 6,000 men may give some indication of the large number of demons involved. So fierce were the demon-possessed man and his companion that no one dared to pass the area where they had their dwelling among the tombs. Under demon influence the man who said his name was Legion walked about naked, and day and night he cried aloud and slashed himself with stones. All efforts to bind him, even with fetters and chains, were unsuccessful. Christ Jesus, however, freed this man and his companion from the power of the demons. Thereafter the expelled demons took possession of a herd of swine and caused these to rush over a precipice to their death in the Sea of Galilee.—Mt 8:28-34; Mr 5:1-20; Lu 8:26-39; see GADARENES; SWINE. For details about the Roman legions, see ARMY (Roman).12/23/20