Mark 1:23-24

1:23 Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit, ¹  and he cried out, ²  1:24 “Leave us alone, ³  Jesus the Nazarene! Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One ⁴  of God!”

Mark 5:5-6

5:5 Each night and every day among the tombs and in the mountains, he would cry out and cut himself with stones. 5:6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him.

Matthew 8:31

8:31 Then the demons begged him, ⁵  “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

Luke 4:41

4:41 Demons also came out ⁶  of many, crying out, ⁷  “You are the Son of God!” ⁸  But he rebuked ⁹  them, and would not allow them to speak, ¹⁰  because they knew that he was the Christ. ¹¹ 

Acts 16:17

16:17 She followed behind Paul and us and kept crying out, ¹²  “These men are servants ¹³  of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way ¹⁴  of salvation.” ¹⁵ 

Acts 19:13-17

19:13 But some itinerant ¹⁶  Jewish exorcists tried to invoke the name ¹⁷  of the Lord Jesus over those who were possessed by ¹⁸  evil spirits, saying, “I sternly warn ¹⁹  you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 19:14 (Now seven sons of a man named ²⁰  Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this.) ²¹  19:15 But the evil spirit replied to them, ²²  “I know about Jesus ²³  and I am acquainted with ²⁴  Paul, but who are you?” ²⁵  19:16 Then the man who was possessed by ²⁶  the evil spirit jumped on ²⁷  them and beat them all into submission. ²⁸  He prevailed ²⁹  against them so that they fled from that house naked and wounded. 19:17 This became known to all who lived in Ephesus, ³⁰  both Jews and Greeks; fear came over ³¹  them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised. ³² 

James 2:19

2:19 You believe that God is one; well and good. ³³  Even the demons believe that – and tremble with fear. ³⁴ 

[1:23]  ¹ sn Unclean spirit refers to an evil spirit.

[1:23]  ² tn Grk “he cried out, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[1:24]  ³ tn Grk “What to us and to you?” This is an idiom meaning, “We have nothing to do with one another,” or “Why bother us!” The phrase τί ἡμῖν καὶ σοί (ti Jhmin kai soi) is Semitic in origin, though it made its way into colloquial Greek (BDAG 275 s.v. ἐγώ). The equivalent Hebrew expression in the OT had two basic meanings: (1) When one person was unjustly bothering another, the injured party could say “What to me and to you?” meaning, “What have I done to you that you should do this to me?” (Judg 11:12, 2 Chr 35:21, 1 Kgs 17:18). (2) When someone was asked to get involved in a matter he felt was no business of his own, he could say to the one asking him, “What to me and to you?” meaning, “That is your business, how am I involved?” (2 Kgs 3:13, Hos 14:8). Option (1) implies hostility, while option (2) merely implies disengagement. BDAG suggests the following as glosses for this expression: What have I to do with you? What have we in common? Leave me alone! Never mind! Hostility between Jesus and the demons is certainly to be understood in this context, hence the translation: “Leave me alone….” For a very similar expression see Lk 8:28 and (in a different context) John 2:4.

[1:24]  ⁴ sn The confession of Jesus as the Holy One here is significant, coming from an unclean spirit. Jesus, as the Holy One of God, who bears God’s Spirit and is the expression of holiness, comes to deal with uncleanness and unholiness.

[8:31]  ⁵ tn Grk “asked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[4:41]  ⁶ sn Demons also came out. Note how Luke distinguishes healing from exorcism here, implying that the two are not identical.

[4:41]  ⁷ tn Grk “crying out and saying.” The participle λέγοντα (legonta) is redundant in English and has not been translated here.

[4:41]  ⁸ tc Most mss (A Q Θ Ψ 0102 Ë^1,13 Ï) read “the Christ, the Son of God.” But the earliest and best mss, along with several other witnesses (א B C D L W Ξ 33 579 700 1241 2542 lat sa), lack “the Christ” here. It is likely that later scribes wished to bring the demons’ confession in line with what Luke says they knew later in the verse.

[4:41]  ⁹ tn Or “commanded,” but “rebuke” implies strong disapproval, which seems to be more in keeping with the context here (L&N 33.419).

[4:41]  ¹⁰ sn Jesus would not allow the demons to speak because the time for such disclosure was not yet at hand, and such a revelation would have certainly been misunderstood by the people. In all likelihood, if the people had understood him early on to be the Son of God, or Messiah, they would have reduced his mission to one of political deliverance from Roman oppression (cf. John 6:15). Jesus wanted to avoid, as much as possible, any premature misunderstanding about who he was and what he was doing. However, at the end of his ministry, he did not deny such a title when the high priest asked him (22:66-71).

[4:41]  ¹¹ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[16:17]  ¹² tn Grk “crying out, saying”; the participle λέγουσα (legousa) is redundant in English and has not been translated. The imperfect verb ἔκραζεν (ekrazen) has been translated as a progressive imperfect.

[16:17]  ¹³ tn Grk “slaves.” See the note on the word “servants” in 2:18. The translation “servants” was used here because in this context there appears to be more emphasis on the activity of Paul and his companions (“proclaiming to you the way of salvation”) than on their status as “slaves of the Most High God.”

[16:17]  ¹⁴ tn Or “a way.” The grammar of this phrase is a bit ambiguous. The phrase in Greek is ὁδὸν σωτηρίας (Jodon swthria"). Neither the head noun nor the genitive noun has the article; this is in keeping with Apollonius’ Canon (see ExSyn 239-40). Since both nouns are anarthrous, this construction also fits Apollonius’ Corollary (see ExSyn 250-54); since the genitive noun is abstract it is most naturally qualitative, so the head noun could either be definite or indefinite without being unusual as far as the grammar is concerned. Luke’s usage of ὁδός elsewhere is indecisive as far as this passage is concerned. However, when one looks at the historical background it is clear that (1) the woman is shut up (via exorcism) not because her testimony is false but because of its source (analogous to Jesus’ treatment of demons perhaps), and (b) “the way” is a par excellence description of the new faith throughout Acts. It thus seems that at least in Luke’s presentation “the way of salvation” is the preferred translation.

[16:17]  ¹⁵ sn Proclaiming to you the way of salvation. The remarks were an ironic recognition of Paul’s authority, but he did not desire such a witness, possibly for fear of confusion. Her expression the Most High God might have been understood as Zeus by the audience.

[19:13]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “some Jewish exorcists who traveled about.” The adjectival participle περιερχομένων (periercomenwn) has been translated as “itinerant.”

[19:13]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “to name the name.”

[19:13]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “who had.” Here ἔχω (ecw) is used of demon possession, a common usage according to BDAG 421 s.v. ἔχω 7.a.α.

[19:13]  ¹⁹ sn The expression I sternly warn you means “I charge you as under oath.”

[19:14]  ²⁰ tn Grk “a certain Sceva.”

[19:14]  ²¹ sn Within the sequence of the narrative, this amounts to a parenthetical note by the author.

[19:15]  ²² tn Grk “answered and said to them.” The expression, redundant in English, has been simplified to “replied.”

[19:15]  ²³ tn Grk “Jesus I know about.” Here ᾿Ιησοῦν (Ihsoun) is in emphatic position in Greek, but placing the object first is not normal in contemporary English style.

[19:15]  ²⁴ tn BDAG 380 s.v. ἐπίσταμαι 2 has “know, be acquainted with τινά…τὸν Παῦλον Ac 19:15.” Here the translation “be acquainted with” was used to differentiate from the previous phrase which has γινώσκω (ginwskw).

[19:15]  ²⁵ sn But who are you? This account shows how the power of Paul was so distinct that parallel claims to access that power were denied. In fact, such manipulation, by those who did not know Jesus, was judged (v. 16). The indirect way in which the exorcists made the appeal shows their distance from Jesus.

[19:16]  ²⁶ tn Grk “in whom the evil spirit was.”

[19:16]  ²⁷ tn Grk “the man in whom the evil spirit was, jumping on them.” The participle ἐφαλόμενος (efalomeno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. L&N 15.239 has “ἐφαλόμενος ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐπ᾿ αὐτούς ‘the man jumped on them’ Ac 19:16.”

[19:16]  ²⁸ tn Grk “and beating them all into submission.” The participle κατακυριεύσας (katakurieusa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. According to W. Foerster, TDNT 3:1098, the word means “the exercise of dominion against someone, i.e., to one’s own advantage.” These exorcists were shown to be powerless in comparison to Jesus who was working through Paul.

[19:16]  ²⁹ tn BDAG 484 s.v. ἰσχύω 3 has “win out, prevail…κατά τινος over, against someone Ac 19:16.”

[19:17]  ³⁰ map For location see JP1 D2; JP2 D2; JP3 D2; JP4 D2.

[19:17]  ³¹ tn Grk “fell on.” BDAG 377 s.v. ἐπιπίπτω 2 has “φόβος ἐ. ἐπί τινα fear came upon someone…Ac 19:17.”

[19:17]  ³² tn Or “exalted.”

[2:19]  ³³ tn Grk “you do well.”

[2:19]  ³⁴ tn Grk “believe and tremble.” The words “with fear” are implied.