Luke 8:30-31

8:30 Jesus then ¹  asked him, “What is your name?” He ²  said, “Legion,” ³  because many demons had entered him. 8:31 And they began to beg ⁴  him not to order ⁵  them to depart into the abyss. ⁶ 

[8:30]  ¹ tn Grk “And Jesus.” Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to pick up the sequence of the narrative prior to the parenthetical note by the author.

[8:30]  ² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[8:30]  ³ sn The name Legion means “thousands,” a word taken from a Latin term for a large group of soldiers. The term not only suggests a multiple possession, but also adds a military feel to the account. This is a true battle.

[8:31]  ⁴ tn One could also translate the imperfect tense here with a repetitive force like “begged him repeatedly.”

[8:31]  ⁵ tn Or “command.”

[8:31]  ⁶ tn This word, ἄβυσσος (abusso"), is a term for the place where the dead await the judgment. It also could hold hostile spirits according to Jewish belief (Jub. 5:6-7; 1 En. 10:4-6; 18:11-16).