1 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tomhs a man with an unclean spirit,
3 Who had his dwelling among the tomhs ; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains :
4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces : neither could any man tame him.
5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,
7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that tuou torment me not.
8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
9 And he asked him, WThat is thy name ? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion : for we are many.
10 And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine : and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand ;) and were choked in the sea.
14 And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.
15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and cloth- ed, and in his right mind : and they were afraid.
16 And they that saw it told them how it befel to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine.
17 And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.
These verses describe one of those mysterious miracles which the Gospels frequently record— the casting out of a devil. Of all the cases of this kind in the New Testa- ment, none is so fully described as this one. Of all the
* The sea of G-alilee, or Tiberias, on which the circumstance re- corded in this passage took place, is an inland lake, through which the river Jordan flows, about fifteen miles long and six broad. It lies in a deep valley, much depressed below the level of the sea — its surface being six hundred and fifty-two feet below that of the Medi- terranean— and is surrounded on most sides by steep hills. Owing