5:1 {The Gerasenes} (twn gerasenwn). Like #Lu 8:26 while #Mt 8:28 has "the Gadarenes." The ruins of the village Khersa (Gerasa) probably point to this site which is in the district of Gadara some six miles southeastward, not to the city of Gerasa some thirty miles away.

5:2 {Out of the boat} (ek tou ploiou). Straightway (euqus) Mark says, using the genitive absolute (exelqontos autou) and qen repeating autwi associative instrumental after apentesen. The demoniac greeted Jesus at once. Mark and #Lu 9:27 mention only one man while Matthew notes two demoniacs, perhaps one more violent than the other. Each of the Gospels has a different phrase. Mark has "a man with an unclean spirit" (en pneumati akaqartwi), #Mt 8:28 "two possessed with demons" (duo daimonizomenoi), #Lu 8:27 "one having demons" (tis ecwn daimonia). Mark has many touches about this miracle not retained in Matthew and Luke. See on ¯Mt 8:28.

5:3 {No man could any more bind him, no, not with a chain} (oude halusei oudeis edunato auton desai). Instrumental case halusei, a handcuff (a privative and luw, to loosen). But this demoniac snapped a handcuff as if a string.

5:4 {Often bound} (pollakis dedesqai). Perfect passive infinitive, state of completion. With fetters (pedais, from peza, foot, instep) and chains, bound hand and foot, but all to no purpose. The English plural of foot is feet (Anglo-Saxon _fot_, _fet_) and fetter is _feeter_. {Rent asunder} (diespasqai). Drawn (spaw) in two (dia- same root as duo, two). Perfect passive infinitive. {Broken in pieces} (suntetriphthai.) Perfect passive infinitive again, from suntribw, to rub together. Rubbed together, crushed together. Perhaps the neighbors who told the story could point to broken fragments of chains and fetters. The fetters may have been cords, or even wooden stocks and not chains. {No man had strength to tame him} (oudeis iscuen auton damasai). Imperfect tense. He roamed at will like a lion in the jungle.

5:5 {He was crying out, and cutting himself with stones} (en krazwn kai katakoptwn heauton liqois). Further vivid details by Mark. Night and day his loud scream or screech could be heard like other demoniacs (cf. #1:26; 3:11; 9:26). The verb for cutting himself occurs here only in the N.T., though an old verb. It means to _cut down_ (perfective use of kata-). We say _cut up_, gash, hack to pieces. Perhaps he was scarred all over with such gashes during his moments of wild frenzy night and day in the tombs and on the mountains. Periphrastic imperfect active with en and the participles.

5:6 {Ran and worshipped} (edramen kai prosekunesen). "At first perhaps with hostile intentions. The onrush of the naked yelling maniac must have tried the newly recovered confidence of the Twelve. We can imagine their surprise when, on approaching, he threw himself on his knees" (Swete).

5:7 {I adjure thee by God} (horkizw se ton qeon). The demoniac puts Jesus on oath (two accusatives) after the startled outcry just like the one in #1:24, which see. He calls Jesus here "son of the Most High God" (huie tou qeou tou huyistou) as in #Lu 8:28 (cf. #Ge 14:18f.). {Torment me not} (me me basaniseis). Prohibition with me and the ingressive aorist subjunctive. The word means to test metals and qen to test one by torture (cf. our "third degree"). Same word in all three Gospels.

5:8 {For he said} (elegen gar). For he had been saying (progressive imperfect). Jesus had already repeatedly ordered the demon to come out of the man whereat the demon made his outcry to Jesus and protested. #Mt 8:29 had "before the time" (pro kairou) and #8:31 shows that the demons did not want to go back to the abyss (ten abusson) right now. That was their real home, but they did not wish to return to the place of torment just now.

5:9 {My name is Legion} (legiwn onoma moi). So #Lu 8:30, but not Matthew. Latin word (_legio_). A full Roman legion had 6,826 men. See on ¯Mt 26:53. this may not have been a full legion, for #Mr 5:13 notes that the number of hogs was "about two thousand." Of course, a stickler for words might say that each hog had several demons.

5:13 {And he gave them leave} (kai epetreyen autois). These words present the crucial difficulty for interpreters as to why Jesus allowed the demons to enter the hogs and destroy them instead of sending them back to the abyss. Certainly it was better for hogs to perish than men, but this loss of property raises a difficulty of its own akin to the problem of tornadoes and earthquakes. The question of one man containing so many demons is difficult also, but not much more so than how one demon can dwell in a man and make his home there. One is reminded of the man out of whom a demon was cast, but the demon came back with seven other demons and took possession. Gould thinks that this man with a legion of demons merely makes a historical exaggeration. "I feel as if I were possessed by a thousand devils." That is too easy an explanation. See on ¯Mt 8:32 for "rushed down the steep." {They were choked} (epnigonto). Imperfect tense picturing graphically the disappearance of pig after pig in the sea. #Lu 8:33 has apegnige, {choked off}, constative second aorist passive indicative, treated as a whole, #Mt 8:32 merely has "perished" (apeqanon; died).

5:14 {And in the country} (kai eis tous agrous). Mark adds this to "the city." In the fields and in the city as the excited men ran they told the tale of the destruction of the hogs. They came to see (elqon idein). All the city came out (Matthew), they went out to see (Luke).

5:15 {They come to Jesus} (ercontai pros ton iesoun). Vivid present. To Jesus as the cause of it all, "to meet Jesus" (eis hupantesin iesou, #Mt 8:34). {And behold} (qewrousin). Present tense again. {And they were afraid} (kai efobeqesan). They became afraid. Mark drops back to the ingressive aorist tense (passive voice). They had all been afraid of the man, but there he was "sitting clothed and in his right mind," (kaqemenon himatismenon kai swfronounta. Note the participles). "At the feet of Jesus," Luke adds (#Lu 8:35). For a long time he had worn no clothes (#Lu 8:17). Here was the healing of the wild man and the destruction of the hogs all by this same Jesus.

5:17 {To depart from their borders} (apelqein apo twn horiwn). Once before the people of Nazareth had driven Jesus out of the city (#Lu 4:16-31). Soon they will do it again on his return there (#Mr 6:1-6; Mt 13:54-58). Here in Decapolis pagan influence was strong and the owners of the hogs cared more for the loss of their property than for the healing of the wild demoniac. In the clash between business and spiritual welfare business came first with them as often today. All three Gospels tell of the request for Jesus to leave. They feared the power of Jesus and wanted no further interference with their business affairs.

5:18 {As he was entering} (embainontos autou). The man began to beseech him (parekalei) before it was too late.

5:19 {Go to thy house unto thy friends} (hupage eis ton oikon sou pros tous sous). "To thy own folks" rather than "thy friends." Certainly no people needed the message about Christ more than these people who were begging Jesus to leave. Jesus had greatly blessed this man and so gave him the hardest task of all, to go home and witness there for Christ. In Galilee Jesus had several times forbidden the healed to tell what he had done for them because of the undue excitement and misunderstanding. But here it was different. There was no danger of too much enthusiasm for Christ in this environment.

5:20 {He went his way} (apelqen). He went off and did as Jesus told him. He heralded (kerussein) or published the story till all over Decapolis men marvelled (eqaumazon) at what Jesus did, kept on marvelling (imperfect tense). The man had a greater opportunity for Christ right in his home land than anywhere else. They all knew this once wild demoniac who now was a new man in Christ Jesus. Thousands of like cases of conversion under Christ's power have happened in rescue missions in our cities.

5:23 {My little daughter} (to qugatrion mou). Diminutive of qugater (#Mt 9:18). " this little endearing touch in the use of the diminutive is peculiar to Mark" (Vincent). "Is at the point of death" (escatws ecei). Has it in the last stages. #Mt 9:18 has: "has just died" (arti eteleusen), Luke "she lay a dying" (apeqnesken, imperfect, she was dying). It was a tragic moment for Jairus. {I pray thee}, not in the Greek. this ellipsis before hina not uncommon, a sort of imperative use of hina and the subjunctive in the _Koin‚_ (Robertson, _Grammar_, p. 943).

5:24 {He went with him} (apelqen). Aorist tense. Went off with him promptly, but a great multitude followed him (ekolouqei), was following, kept following (imperfect tense). {They thronged him} (suneqlibon auton). Imperfect tense again. Only example of (here and in verse #31) this compound verb in the N.T., common in old Greek. Were pressing Jesus so that he could hardly move because of the jam, or even to breathe (sunepnigon, #Lu 8:42).

5:26 {Had suffered many things of many physicians} (polla paqousa hupo pollwn iatrwn). A pathetic picture of a woman with a chronic case who had tried doctor after doctor. {Had spent all that she had} (dapanesasa ta par' autes panta). Having spent the all from herself, all her resources. For the idiom with para see #Lu 10:7; Php 4:18. The tragedy of it was that she "was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse" (meden wfeleqeisa alla mallon eis to ceiron elqousa). Her money was gone, her disease was gaining on her, her one chance came now with Jesus. Matthew says nothing about her experience with the doctors and #Lu 8:43 merely says that she "had spent all her living upon physicians and could not be healed of any," a plain chronic case. Luke the physician neatly takes care of the physicians. But they were not to blame. She had a disease that they did not know how to cure. Vincent quotes a prescription for an issue of blood as given in the Talmud which gives one a most grateful feeling that he is not under the care of doctors of that nature. The only parallel today is Chinese medicine of the old sort before modern medical schools came.

5:28 {If I touch but his garments} (ean haywmai k'an twn himatiwn autou). She was timid and shy from her disease and did not wish to attract attention. So she crept up in the crowd and touched the hem or border of his garment (kraspedon) according to #Mt 9:20 and #Lu 8:44.

5:29 {She felt in her body} (egnw twi swmati). She knew, the verb means. She said to herself, {I am healed} (iamai). iatai retains the perfect passive in the indirect discourse. It was a vivid moment of joy for her. The plague (mastigos) or scourge was a whip used in flagellations as on Paul to find out his guilt (#Ac 22:24, cf. #Heb 11:26). It is an old word that was used for afflictions regarded as a scourge from God. See already on ¯Mr 3:10.

5:30 {Perceiving in himself} (epignous en heautwi). She thought, perhaps, that the touch of Christ's garment would cure her without his knowing it, a foolish fancy, no doubt, but one due to her excessive timidity. Jesus felt in his own consciousness. The Greek idiom more exactly means: "Jesus perceiving in himself the power from him go out" (ten ex autou dunamin exelqousan). The aorist participle here is punctiliar simply and timeless and can be illustrated by #Lu 10:18: "I was beholding Satan fall" (eqewroun ton satanan pesonta), where pesonta does not mean _fallen_ (peptwkota) as in #Re 9:1 nor falling (piptonta) but simply the constative aorist {fall} (Robertson, _Grammar_, p. 684). So here Jesus means to say: "I felt in myself the power from me go." Scholars argue whether in this instance Jesus healed the woman by conscious will or by unconscious response to her appeal. Some even argue that the actual healing took place after Jesus became aware of the woman's reaching for help by touching his garment. What we do know is that Jesus was conscious of the going out of power from himself. #Lu 8:46 uses egnwn (personal knowledge), but Mark has epignous (personal and additional, clear knowledge). One may remark that no real good can be done without the outgoing of power. That is true of mother, preacher, teacher, doctor. {Who touched my garments?} (tis mou heyato twn himatiwn;). More exactly, {Who touched me on my clothes}; The Greek verb uses two genitives, of the person and the thing. It was a dramatic moment for Jesus and for the timid woman. Later it was a common practice for the crowds to touch the hem of Christ's garments and be healed (#Mr 6:56). But here Jesus chose to single out this case for examination. There was no magic in the garments of Jesus. Perhaps there was superstition in the woman's mind, but Jesus honored her darkened faith as in the case of Peter's shadow and Paul's handkerchief.

5:31 {Thronging thee} (sunqlibonta se). See verse #24. The disciples were amazed at the sensitiveness of Jesus to the touch of the crowd. They little understood the drain on Jesus from all this healing that pulled at his heart-strings and exhausted his nervous energy even though the Son of God. He had the utmost human sympathy.

5:32 {And he looked round about} (kai perieblepeto). Imperfect middle indicative. He kept looking around to find out. The answer of Jesus to the protest of the disciples was this scrutinizing gaze (see already #3:5,34). Jesus knew the difference between touch and touch (Bruce).

5:33 {Fearing and trembling, knowing} (fobeqeisa kai tremousa, eiduia). These participles vividly portray this woman who had tried to hide in the crowd. She had heard Christ's question and felt his gaze. She had to come and confess, for something "has happened" (gegonen, second perfect active indicative, still true) to her. {Fell down before him} (prosepesen autwi). That was the only proper attitude now. {All the truth} (pasan ten aleqeian). Secrecy was no longer possible. She told "the pitiful tale of chronic misery" (Bruce).

5:34 {Go in peace} (hupage eis eirenen). She found sympathy, healing, and pardon for her sins, apparently. Peace here may have more the idea of the Hebrew _shal"m_, health of body and soul. So Jesus adds: "Be whole of thy plague" (isqi hugies apo tes mastigos sou). Continue whole and well.

5:35 {While he yet spake} (eti autou lalountos). Genitive absolute. Another vivid touch in Mark and #Lu 8:49. The phrase is in #Ge 29:9. Nowhere does Mark preserve better the lifelike traits of an eyewitness like Peter than in these incidents in chapter 5. The arrival of the messengers from Jairus was opportune for the woman just healed of the issue of blood (en husei haimatos) for it diverted attention from her. Now the ruler's daughter has died (apeqane). {Why troublest thou the master any further?} (ti eti skulleis ton didaskalon;). It was all over, so they felt. Jesus had raised from the dead the son of the widow of Nain (#Lu 7:11-17), but people in general did not expect him to raise the dead. The word skull", from skulon (_skin, pelt, spoils_), means to skin, to flay, in Aeschylus. qen it comes to mean to vex, annoy, distress as in #Mt 9:36, which see. The middle is common in the papyri for bother, worry, as in #Lu 7:6. There was no further use in troubling the Teacher about the girl.

5:36 {Not heeding} (parakousas). this is the sense in #Mt 18:17 and uniformly so in the LXX. But here the other sense of hearing aside, overhearing what was not spoken directly to him, probably exists also. "Jesus might overhear what was said and disregard its import" (Bruce). Certainly he ignored the conclusion of the messengers. The present participle laloumenon suits best the idea of overhearing. Both Mark and #Lu 8:50 have "Fear not, only believe" (me fobou, monon pisteue). this to the ruler of the synagogue (twi arcisunagwgwi) who had remained and to whom the messenger had spoken.

5:37 {Save Peter, and James, and John} (ei me petron kai lakwbon kai iwanen). Probably the house was too small for the other disciples to come in with the family. The first instance of this inner circle of three seen again on the Mount of Transfiguration and in the Garden of Gethsemane. The one article in the Greek treats the group as a unit.

5:38 {Wailing greatly} (alalazontas polla). An onomatopoetic word from Pindar down. The soldiers on entering battle cried alala. Used of clanging cymbals (#1Co 13:1). Like ololuzw in #Jas 5:1. It is used here of the monotonous wail of the hired mourners.

5:39 {Make a tumult} (qorubeisqe). Middle voice. Jesus had dismissed one crowd (verse #37), but finds the house occupied by the hired mourners making bedlam (qorubos) as if that showed grief with their ostentatious noise. #Mt 9:23 spoke of flute-players (auletas) and the hubbub of the excited throng (thoruboumenon. Cf. #Mr 14:2; Ac 20:1,21,34). Mark, Matthew, and Luke all quote Jesus as saying that "the child is not dead, but sleepeth." Jesus undoubtedly meant that she was not dead to stay dead, though some hold that the child was not really dead. It is a beautiful word (she is {sleeping}, katheudei) that Jesus uses of death.

5:40 {And they laughed him to scorn} (kai kategelwn). "They jeered at him" (Weymouth). Note imperfect tense. They kept it up. And note also kat- (perfective use). Exactly the same words in #Mt 9:24 and #Lu 8:53. The loud laughter was ill suited to the solemn occasion. But Jesus on his part (autos de) took charge of the situation. {Taketh the father of the child and her mother and them that were with him} (paralambanei ton patera tou paidiou kai ten metera kai tous met' autou). Having put out (ekbalwn) the rest by a stern assertion of authority as if he were master of the house, Jesus takes along with him these five and enters the chamber of death "where the child was" (hopou en to paidion). He had to use pressure to make the hired mourners leave. The presence of some people will ruin the atmosphere for spiritual work.

5:41 {Talitha cumi}. These precious Aramaic words, spoken by Jesus to the child, Peter heard and remembered so that Mark gives them to us. Mark interprets the simple words into Greek for those who did not know Aramaic (to korasion, egeire), that is, {Damsel, arise}. Mark uses the diminutive korasiwn, a little girl, from kore, girl. _Braid Scots_ has it: "Lassie, wauken." #Lu 8:5-9 has it he pais, egeire, {Maiden, arise}. All three Gospels mention the fact that Jesus took her by the hand, a touch of life (kratesas tes ceiros), giving confidence and help.

5:42 {Rose up, and walked} (aneste kai periepatei). Aorist tense (single act) followed by the imperfect ({the walking went on}). {For she was twelve years old} (en gar etwn dwdeka). The age mentioned by Mark alone and here as explanation that she was old enough to walk. {Amazed} (exestesan). We have had this word before in #Mt 12:23 and #Mr 2:12, which see. Here the word is repeated in the substantive in the associative instrumental case (ekstasei megalei), with a great ecstasy, especially on the part of the parents (#Lu 8:56), and no wonder.