Mark 5:2-5

5:2 Just as Jesus ¹  was getting out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit ²  came from the tombs and met him. ³  5:3 He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. 5:4 For his hands and feet had often been bound with chains and shackles, ⁴  but ⁵  he had torn the chains apart and broken the shackles in pieces. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5:5 Each night and every day among the tombs and in the mountains, he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

Luke 8:27

8:27 As ⁶  Jesus ⁷  stepped ashore, ⁸  a certain man from the town ⁹  met him who was possessed by demons. ¹⁰  For a long time this man ¹¹  had worn no clothes and had not lived in a house, but among ¹²  the tombs.

Luke 8:29

8:29 For Jesus ¹³  had started commanding ¹⁴  the evil ¹⁵  spirit to come out of the man. (For it had seized him many times, so ¹⁶  he would be bound with chains and shackles ¹⁷  and kept under guard. But ¹⁸  he would break the restraints and be driven by the demon into deserted ¹⁹  places.) ²⁰ 

¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² sn Unclean spirit refers to an evil spirit.

³ tn Grk “met him from the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.” When this is converted to normal English word order (“a man met him from the tombs with an unclean spirit”) it sounds as if “with an unclean spirit” modifies “the tombs.” Likewise, “a man with an unclean spirit from the tombs met him” implies that the unclean spirit came from the tombs, while the Greek text is clear that it is the man who had the unclean spirit who came from the tombs. To make this clear a second verb, “came,” is supplied in English: “came from the tombs and met him.”

⁴ tn Grk “he had often been bound with chains and shackles.” “Shackles” could also be translated “fetters”; they were chains for the feet.

⁵ tn Grk “and.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tn Grk “stepped out on land.”

⁹ tn Or “city.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “who had demons.”

¹¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the demon-possessed man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹² tn Or “in.”

¹³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁴ tc ‡ Although the external evidence favors the aorist παρήγγειλεν (parhngeilen, “he commanded”; Ì⁷⁵ B Θ Ξ Ψ Ë¹³ 579 700 1241 1424 2542 pm), the internal evidence favors the imperfect παρήγγελλεν (parhngellen, here translated “he had started commanding”; א A C K L W Γ Δ 1 33 565 892 pm). The aorist is suspect because it can more easily be taken as a single command, and thus an immediate exorcism. The imperfect would most likely be ingressive (BDF §§328; 329; 331), suggesting that Jesus started to command the evil spirit to depart, and continued the command.

¹⁵ tn Grk “unclean.”

¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so,” introducing a clause that gives the result of the man being seized by the demon.

¹⁷ tn Or “fetters”; these were chains for the feet.

¹⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

¹⁹ tn Grk “into the deserts.” The plural use here has been translated as “deserted places,” that is, uninhabited areas.

²⁰ sn This is a parenthetical, explanatory comment by the author.