Mark 5:7

5:7 Then ¹  he cried out with a loud voice, “Leave me alone, ²  Jesus, Son of the Most High God! I implore you by God ³  – do not torment me!”

Mark 5:12

5:12 And the demonic spirits ⁴  begged him, “Send us into the pigs. Let us enter them.”

Luke 8:30-33

8:30 Jesus then ⁵  asked him, “What is your name?” He ⁶  said, “Legion,” ⁷  because many demons had entered him. 8:31 And they began to beg ⁸  him not to order ⁹  them to depart into the abyss. ¹⁰  8:32 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, ¹¹  and the demonic spirits ¹²  begged Jesus ¹³  to let them go into them. He gave them permission. ¹⁴  8:33 So ¹⁵  the demons came out of the man and went into the pigs, and the herd of pigs ¹⁶  rushed down the steep slope into the lake and drowned.

Revelation 12:12

12:12 Therefore you heavens rejoice, and all who reside in them!

But ¹⁷  woe to the earth and the sea

because the devil has come down to you!

He ¹⁸  is filled with terrible anger,

for he knows that he only has a little time!”

Revelation 20:1-2

The Thousand Year Reign

20:1 Then ¹⁹  I saw an angel descending from heaven, holding ²⁰  in his hand the key to the abyss and a huge chain. 20:2 He ²¹  seized the dragon – the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan – and tied him up for a thousand years.

[5:7]  ¹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[5:7]  ² tn Grk “What to me and to you?” (an idiom). The phrase τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί (ti emoi 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). These nuances were apparently expanded in Greek, but the basic notions of defensive hostility (option 1) and indifference or disengagement (option 2) are still present. 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….”

[5:7]  ³ sn Though it seems unusual for a demon to invoke God’s name (“I implore you by God”) in his demands of Jesus, the parallel in Matt 8:29 suggests the reason: “Why have you come to torment us before the time?” There was an appointed time in which demons would face their judgment, and they seem to have viewed Jesus’ arrival on the scene as an illegitimate change in God’s plan regarding the time when their sentence would be executed.

[5:12]  ⁴ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the demonic spirits) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:30]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[8:30]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn One could also translate the imperfect tense here with a repetitive force like “begged him repeatedly.”

[8:31]  ⁹ tn Or “command.”

[8:31]  ¹⁰ 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).

[8:32]  ¹¹ tn Grk “mountain,” but this might give the English reader the impression of a far higher summit.

[8:32]  ¹² tn Grk “they”; the referent (the demonic spirits) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:32]  ¹³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:32]  ¹⁴ sn Many have discussed why Jesus gave them permission, since the animals were destroyed. However, this is another example of a miracle that is a visual lesson. The demons are destructive: They were destroying the man. They destroyed the pigs. They destroy whatever they touch. The point was to take demonic influence seriously, as well as Jesus’ power over it as a picture of the larger battle for human souls. There would be no doubt how the man’s transformation had taken place.

[8:33]  ¹⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate a conclusion and transition in the narrative.

[8:33]  ¹⁶ tn The words “of pigs” are supplied because of the following verb in English, “were drowned,” which is plural.

[12:12]  ¹⁷ tn The word “But” is not in the Greek text, but the contrast is clearly implied. This is a case of asyndeton (lack of a connective).

[12:12]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “and is filled,” a continuation of the previous sentence. Because English tends to use shorter sentences (especially when exclamations are involved), a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[20:1]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[20:1]  ²⁰ tn The word “holding” is implied. The two clauses “having the key of the abyss” and “a huge chain in his hand” can be construed in two ways: (1) both are controlled by the participle ἔχοντα (econta) and both are modified by the phrase “in his hand” – “having in his hand the key to the abyss and a huge chain.” (2) The participle ἔχοντα refers only to the key, and the phrase “in his hand” refers only to the chain – “having the key of the abyss and holding a huge chain in his hand.” Because of the stylistic tendency in Rev to use the verb ἔχω (ecw) to mean “hold (something)” and the phrase “in his hand” forming a “bracket” along with the verb ἔχω around both the phrases in question, the first option is preferred.

[20:2]  ²¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.