The parallel gospel accounts for Mark 5:1-13 are Matthew 8:28-32 and Luke 8:26-33.

In Mark 5:1-13, Jesus encounters a demon-possessed man living among the tombs whom He liberates from his torment.

They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes (v 1).

The pronoun—they—refers to Jesus and His disciples who came to the other side of the sea by boat (Mark 4:35-36).

After calming the storm at sea (Mark 4:39), Jesus and His disciples came to the other side of the sea of Galilee. They had most likely crossed the sea from somewhere along the northwestern shore, probably not far from the city of Capernaum. On the day before they left, Jesus had preached to the crowds many parables as He stood in a boat facing the crowds who were listening to Him on the shoreline (Mark 4:1-2).

The city and area Jesus left was culturally Jewish and part of Rome’s Judean district of Galilee. The other side of the sea, where Jesus and His disciples came into, was culturally Greek. This is why Mark described it as the country of the Gerasenes.

A Gerasene was a citizen of Gergesa, a city located north of the city of Gadara along the eastern shore of Galilee. Luke also describes the area Jesus came to as the country of the Gerasenes (Luke 8:26).

Matthew described this area as “the country of the Gadarenes” (Matthew 8:28a)—this referred to the area around the city of Gadara.

Gadara was situated about ten miles inland, southeast of the Sea of Galilee, along a significant trade route. Gadara was one of the ten Greek cities that made up the Decapolis, a region established in the wake of Alexander the Great’s conquests over three centuries earlier. In Jesus’s day, these ten cities were part of a Roman province called the Decapolis.

Hippos, another Decapolis city, stood on a hill overlooking the sea, putting the country Jesus and His disciples came to within the political sphere of Gadara. This explains why Matthew described the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee as “the country of the Gadarenes” (Matthew 8:28a).

Gadara was the more prominent city than Gergesa. But Gergesa was closer in proximity to where Jesus and His disciples came to shore.

Thus, Matthew writes the name of the larger and more prominent city of the region, while Mark and Luke, who are both more precise on this point, mention the name of the town nearer to the spot where Jesus’s boat made landfall—the country of the Gerasenes. Both descriptions are accurate.

As mentioned above, the Decapolis was home to Greeks and Romans. They were Gentiles who, in the eyes of their Jewish neighbors, openly displayed their pagan practices.

Both Mark and Matthew use the phrase the other side to signify this culturally distinct region on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. From a Jewish perspective, the other side of the sea was functionally a different country—comprised of godless sinners.

When He got out of the boat, Jesus and His disciples were immediately met by a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit (v 2).

The text implies that as soon as Jesus stepped out of the boat, the unclean spirit-possessed man came to confront Him. The man met Jesus immediately. This instant encounter highlights the dramatic nature of the moment, as if the forces of darkness recognized Jesus’s authority and could not ignore His presence.

Mark describes the man who met Jesus and His disciples as a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit. The fact that he had an unclean spirit meant that this man was demon-possessed. And as will soon be detailed further, the description that he came from the tombs means that this demon-possessed man did not just happen to come from the tombs, but he lived among the tombs of the dead.

Matthew’s gospel reports the presence of two demon-possessed men, instead of one (like Mark and Luke—Luke 8:27), who rushed at Jesus from the tombs (Matthew 8:28b).

This difference in reporting is not a contradiction but rather a matter of emphasis.

Matthew records the presence of both men, while Mark and Luke focus on the more notable or dominant figure in the encounter. This literary choice aligns with both gospel writers' tendency to highlight key individuals when conveying theological and narrative significance.

This narrative technique—focusing on the most notable individual rather than detailing every participant—was a common practice in ancient writings. By emphasizing the most prominent figure, the gospel writers streamlined their accounts while maintaining the essence of the event.

This pattern appears again in the account of Jesus healing blind men in Jericho:

Matthew records that Jesus healed two blind men (Matthew 20:29-34).
Mark and Luke, however, focus on one of these men—Bartimaeus—when recounting the healing (Mark 10:46-52, Luke 18:35-43).

The pattern of Matthew mentioning two individuals while Mark and Luke focus on one applies in their respective accounts of the demon-possessed men in the country of the Gerasenes.

After stating that a man with an unclean spirit immediately came from the tombs to meet Jesus and His disciples when they came ashore, Mark begins to describe the state of this demon-possessed man (demoniac) in awful detail:

And he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones (vv 3-5).

This man had lost control over his mind and body.

Instead of dwelling in a house, he resided in a graveyard, among the tombs. During that time, tombs were frequently carved-out caves used to bury the deceased. The eastern shore of Galilee, where the Gerasenes lived, had numerous cliffs that would have provided an ideal setting for these cave tombs. Archaeologists have discovered ancient tombs in the side of the cliffs along the eastern shore of Galilee near the ancient town of Gergesa—the country of the Gergesenes—where Jesus and His disciples came ashore. These discoveries are evidence that support the Biblical account.

Mark highlights the demon-possessed man’s extraordinary strength.

No one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain. Despite frequently having been bound with shackles and chains by the people of his city to prevent him from harming himself or others, the demoniac’s supernatural power was so great that all the chains put on him had been torn apart and their shackles broken to pieces. Mark adds that no one was strong enough to subdue him.

Mark also describes the self-inflicted harm the possessed man endured while under the control of the unclean spirit.

Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones. Mark portrays the extreme suffering inflicted upon the man by the demons. His screams, constantly echoing from the tombs—night and day—would have been chilling and terrifying to hear. The demon also drove him to gash himself with stones. Mark’s wording could suggest that he threw rocks at himself or used them to scrape his skin, but either way, the man’s body was left bruised and bloodied, covered in cuts from these violent acts.

Matthew’s gospel describes the demon-possessed men as “so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way” (Matthew 8:28).

These details demonstrate the intense violence that demoniacs could inflict upon themselves and others. While the Bible does not always provide specific descriptions of other demon-possessed individuals, it is likely that they experienced similar behaviors and torment, given the nature of demonic affliction.

Following the terrible description of what the man with an unclean spirit suffered, Mark describes what happened when Jesus and the disciples were met by him.

Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; and shouting with a loud voice, he said, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!” (vv 6-7).

Mark reports that the demon-possessed man saw Jesus from a distance, but he does not say how far this distance was. The implication was that the distance was far enough that the man had to run when he ran up to Jesus.

When he got to Jesus, the man with an unclean spirit bowed down before Him. This shows how the demons inside the man recognized Who they were facing and the immense authority and power Jesus had as God.

As he bowed before Jesus, the man with an unclean spirit was shouting with a loud voice: ““What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!”.

Mark explains the reason the demon-possessed man said this.

For He had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” (v 8).

The demons recognized Jesus as God incarnate, acknowledging Him as the Son of the Most High God—a member of the Divine Trinity.

Typically, Jesus prohibited demons from revealing His identity (Mark 1:34, 3, 11-12, Luke 4:34-35, 4:41). He likely did so for at least two reasons, including:

Jesus did not want or need the endorsement of demons.
Jesus desired that people come to Him based on faith, not by the testimony of unclean spirits.

Unlike other instances where Jesus silenced demons, Mark, Luke, and Matthew do not record Jesus stopping the demons from proclaiming His identity in this instance. The likely reason is that, in this situation, the only witnesses were the demoniacs, Jesus, His disciples, and possibly a few swineherds (v 11).

The demons, having rebelled against God and fallen with Lucifer, recognized Jesus as their adversary. In the cosmic spiritual conflict between God and demons, the kingdoms of earth serve as the battleground where this struggle plays out.

The demons, recognizing the authority of Jesus, asked in a loud voice, "What business do we have with each other?”

Their question can be reformulated: “What do you want with us?” and “Why are You here?”

Matthew’s account includes an additional question the demons asked Jesus:

“Have You come here to torment us before the time?”
(Matthew 8:29b)

The demons’ questions indicate their dreadful awareness of the power Jesus holds over them and their impending obligation to obey His command to come out of the man. The demons are fully aware that their rebellion against God is futile and that they are ultimately doomed to defeat and punishment, including being cast out of the country (v 10)—or, as Luke states, “into the abyss” (Luke 8:31).

(The Bible Says commentary will explain more about the demons’ eventual doom and punishment from God further into this commentary).

Jesus did not directly answer the demons’ questions.

And He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he said to Him, “My name is Legion; for we are many” (v 9).

Instead, Jesus was asking the man: “What is your name?”

But eerily, it was the demons possessing the man who replied to Jesus. The man said, “My name is Legion; for we are many.”

The term legion was a Roman military designation for a unit typically composed of thousands of soldiers.

The most famous Roman legion was the Tenth Legion, instrumental in Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul (modern-day France) over 75 years earlier. This same legion would later be stationed in Hippos, a Decapolis city between Gergesa and Gadara, during the Zealot rebellion. Notably, its emblem featured a boar’s head.

And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country (v 10).

In this context, the demons’ desperate request for Jesus to not send them out of the country did not mean ‘out of the country of the Gerasenes.’ They were not imploring Him to let them stay in Gergesa or Gadara. They were not afraid of being sent to a different region of the Roman empire or another country of the world. They were afraid of being sent out of the country of this world and into their eventual place/state/country of judgment and torment.

The demons’ request is perhaps most clear in Luke’s gospel account:

“They were imploring Him not to command them to go away into the abyss.”
(Luke 8:31)

The "abyss" (Luke 8:31) is likely a reference to Tartarus, which is rendered as "hell" in the NASB-95 translation of 2 Peter 2:4: “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment.”

The abyss and Tartarus seem to represent a realm of divine judgment against demonic wickedness—a place where demons endure torment and punishment from God. Apparently, these demons desperately sought to avoid being cast into it.

In the Gospel of Matthew, the demons acknowledge that there is a set time for their punishment, asking Jesus, “Have You come here to torment us before the time?” (Matthew 8:29). They are aware that a future judgment awaits them, one in which the Son of the Most High God will exercise His authority to command them “into the abyss” (Luke 8:31).

When the demons began to implore Jesus earnestly not to send them out of the country, they were pleading with Him to permit them to remain on earth rather than being cast into the abyss of torment and judgment before their appointed time.

To learn more about the abyss and Tartarus, see The Bible Says’ article: “What is Hell? Hades and Tartarus in the Bible.”

The Greek word used for implored is “parakaleo” (G3870), which literally means “to call alongside.” This term carries a range of meanings, including “encourage,” “plead,” “exhort,” or “comfort.” In John 14 and 15, Jesus uses the related term “Paraklete” to describe the Holy Spirit as the One who Encourages, Exhorts, and Comforts. However, in this context, “parakaleo” conveys a sense of urgency, meaning “to ask earnestly,” “plead,” or “beg.” The use of this term in verse 10 reveals the sheer terror the demons felt when they saw Jesus and feared He would command them to come out of the man.

The demons acknowledged the authority of the Son of the Most High God, understanding that He had the power to send them wherever He willed. They knew they could not remain in the man if Jesus commanded them to come out of him. The demons were imploring Jesus not to command them to go out of the country (the abyss).

Desperate to avoid banishment from the earth, the demons pleaded with Jesus to allow them to enter a nearby herd of pigs instead:

Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. The demons implored Him, saying, “Send us into the swine so that we may enter them.” Jesus gave them permission (vv 11-12).

Swine is another term for pigs. According to Mosaic Law, swine were deemed unclean animals, and Jews were prohibited from consuming their meat (Leviticus 11:7, Deuteronomy 14:8). This particular herd was likely being raised as a food source for the Gentile population in the Decapolis.

A large herd of swine was feeding on the nearby on the mountain. This large herd of swine consisted of no less than about two thousand pigs (v 13). Apparently, the mountain referred to the nearby steep bank (v 13) that formed a high cliff overlooking the eastern shoreline of the sea.

Afraid of being cast into the abyss (Luke 8:31), the demons implored Jesus to allow them to enter the swine instead.

Jesus granted their request and gave them permission to do so. The demons’ plea and their need for Jesus’s permission demonstrate His supreme authority over supernatural beings, even those in everlasting opposition to Him.

And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea (v 13).

The demons obeyed Jesus’s command and did what He permitted them to do.

When the demons came out of the man, they entered the herd of swine.

As soon as the demons entered the swine, Mark states that the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned.

The demons caused the pigs to destroy themselves, mirroring how they had been tormenting and destroying the man whom they possessed.

Jesus liberated the man from the demonic oppression, restoring him from the spiritual torment he had been enduring. Because of Jesus, the man was now free from demonic torment and in possession of himself once again.

Mark 5 Commentary

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Mark 5:1-13 meaning