Luke 8:26-39, Greek Text Studies

Greek Study: Luke 8:26-39

v26 κατεπλευσαν (καταπλεω) aor. "they sailed" toward shore, a word that serves to illustrate the transition from sea to shore. Mark's "came" doesn't do it for Luke, since this episode actually began with v22 where Jesus sets off from Galilee to confront the dark powers in the Gentile territory opposite. Jesus confronts these powers on the lake and stills them, and now he arrives to confront them again. 

των Γερασηνων gen. "of the Gerasenes" genitive of identification; where is Gerasa?  Suggestions abound, none are convincing;it may be a village carrying the modern name of Kersa/Koursi. 

v27 εξελθοντι (εξερχομαι) dat. part. sing. dat. "when Jesus stepped ashore" Luke shifts the focus from the action to the person (Jesus). The participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting αυτω, "him" after the verb υπηντησεν, "met"; "so a certain man from the city met Jesus who had just stepped out of the boat onto the land."

εχων (εχω) pres. part. "a demon-possessed man" - participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting "man".

χρονω ικανω dat. "a considerable time”  dative is temporal.

v28 ιδων (οραω) aor. part. "seeing [Jesus]" ανακραξας (ανακραζω) aor. part. "he cried out" – a strong word, more like "he began to scream".

προσεπεσεν (προσπιπτω) aor. "fell at [his] feet" Mark uses the word for "worship", but Luke doesn't want to convey the idea that these dark powers reverence Jesus so more like an idiom; "fell at his feet in submission."

φωνη μεγαλη dat. “in a great (loud) voice”  dative is instrumental, expressing means.

τι εμοι και σοι "what do you want with me" - A rather enigmatic statement, but probably expressing dread; "what good can come to me from contact with you?"

του θεου του υψιστου gen. "[son] of the most high God" - "son" is filial rather than messianic.

μη ... βασανισης (βασανιζω) aor. subj. "don't torture [me]" – a subjunctive of prohibition. This word is used of torture (literally “to twist”) imposed by a court to extract confession or inflict punishment. The dark powers may be calling on Jesus not to punish them before the judgment, they may also just be saying "don't inflict pain."

v29 παρηγγειλεν (παραγγελλω) aor. "Jesus had commanded" - as a pluperfect for emphasis, Jesus had already told the demons to leave the man but they are trying to talk him out of it. 

τω ακαθαρτω dat. adj. "[the] unclean [spirit]” a dative of indirect object.

εξελθειν (εξερχομαι) inf. "to come out" – an infinitive serving as an imperative.

πολλοις .. χρονοις dat. "on many occasions” dative is adverbial, temporal. The man had many bouts of demon possession.

συνηρπακει (συναρπαζω) pluperf. "it had seized [him]" for emphasis.

εδεσμευετο (δεσμευω) imperf. "though he was chained [hand and foot]" - Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man because on many occasions it had seized him and he would break the bonds and be driven into the desert.

φυλασσομενος (φυλασσω) pres. pas. part. "guarded”

διαρρησσων (διαρρησσω) part. "he had broken" - illustrating both the power of the possession and the power of Jesus in dealing with it.

v30 σοι dat. pro. "[what is] your [name]?" - the only record of Jesus having a conversation with demons.

λεγιων (οϖ) "Legion" - not necessarily a name but a Roman legion consisted of 5,000 soldiers, the term may refer to the brutality of that army; so an idiom meaning; "we are powerful."

δαιμονια πολλα "many demons" – the Greek word for demon is singular, but it is read as a plural, unusual and IDK why! Perhaps this indicates origin from a written source.

v31 παρεκαλουν (παρακαλεω) pl. imperf. "they begged him repeatedly" - "repeatedly" may be intended by the imperfect, or the imperfect may just imply that their pleading fell on deaf ears; i.e. they didn't get what they wanted.  Luke moves the verbs into the plural "they" when referring to the demons.

αβυσσον (ος) "Abyss" – a deep hole, bottomless pit, the underworld, hell - Luke sees the abyss as a place of confinement for dark powers. He probably understands the depths of the sea as such a place. 

v32 ικανων adj. "a large [herd]" χοιρων (ος) gen. "of pigs" βοσκομενη (βοσκω) pres. pas. part. "feeding"  εν τω ορει "on the mountain" Sheep usually feed on the sides of mountains, pigs in valleys and plains, which is why this is often pictured as a precipice or cliff. There is a definite article but it doesn't necessarily refer to a particular hill.

παρεκαλεσαν (παρακαλεω) pl. aor. "the demons begged" - aorist seeks to imply that they sensed their request would be granted. There is debate over why Jesus would agree to any request from demons, the answer probably lies in the irony of this story; that the dark powers normally confined to the deep waters think they have tricked Jesus into leaving go and then find themselves back in the deep waters!

v33 εξελθοντα (εξερχομαι) part. "when [the demons] came out"  απο "of [the man]" 

ωρμησεν (ορμαω) aor. "[the herd] rushed off the" κρημνου (ος) cliff and

απεπνιγη (αποπνιγω) aor. pas. "drowned" (choked) – i.e. the demons end up right where they didn’t want to be, the abyss!

v34 οι βοσκοντες (βοσκω) part. "the pig feeders” – someone’s ox (or pig in this case) has to get gored!

απηγγειλαν (απανγγελλω) aor. "reported this" a verb without an object, so the object may be rendered as "what they had seen" scared them.

v35 εξηλθον (ερχομαι) pl. aor. "the people went out" - the villagers and farmers, not the herdsmen.

ιδειν (οραω) aor. inf. "to see". ηλθον (ερχομαι) aor. "when they came" 

καθημενον (καθημι) pres. part. "sitting" - they discovered the man ........ seated 

του Ιησου (ος) gen. "[at the feet] of Jesus" the man now functions as a disciple; i.e. he is seated at the feet of a rabbi.

εφοβηθησαν (φοβεω) aor. pas. "they were afraid" – the initial first step toward faith for Luke. The scene is one of calm; the pigs are gone, the man is sane, and the townsfolk are a’feared.

v36 οι ιδοντες (ειδον οραω) part. "the ones having seen” - i.e. the eyewitnesses. 

πως "how" ο δαιμονισθεις (δαιμονιζομαι) aor. pas. part. "the demon-possessed man

εσωθη (σωζω) aor. pas. "had been cured (saved/restored)" - for Luke, a healing like this serves as a visible expression of salvation.

v37 απαν το πληθος "all the people" - given such a demonstration of divine power (not just economic disruption as suggested by some), fear drives the people to ask Jesus to leave.

ηρωτησεν (ερωταω) aor. "asked" – a much softer Greek word than the previous "begged " used by the demons. 

απελθειν (απερχομαι) aor. inf. "to depart [from them] - the infinitive forms a dependent statement of indirect speech.

οτι "because" cause/reason; introducing a causal clause explaining why they asked Jesus to leave.

υπεστρεφεν (υϑποστρεφω) aor. "and returned (to Galilee)

v38 εδειτο (δεομαι) imperf. "begged" - imperfect may indicate a constant pleading on the part of the man, "he was begging". Luke is treating v38 and 39 as a new episode with its own message which is why the "pleading" is following the "leaving".

ειναι "to go [with him]" 

δε "but απελυσεν (απολυω) aor. "dismissed/released [him] - Jesus has not refused him, but has given him another direction to walk. 

λεγων (λεγω) pres. part. "saying" 

v39 υποστρεφε (υποστρεφω) imp. "return [home]" σοι dat. "for you

διηγου (διηγεομαι) imp. "tell" - explain, communicate, relate.

και "so [the man went away]" - the context implies an inferential; "so he went away and all over the town he proclaimed all that Jesus had done for him".

κηρυσσων (κηρυσσω) pres. part. "and told" – literally preaching, proclaiming. This episode prefigures the coming Gentile mission in Acts. Mark notes the response of the people was "amazement". For Mark, amazement is the first response of faith, but for Luke "fear" is often the first response of faith.