to ask for · verb — imperfect active indicative, 3rd person singular
him
αὐτόν·auton
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative singular masculine
What
τίti
G5101
an interrogative pronoun · interrogative pronoun — nominative singular neuter
thy
σοίsoí
G4671
to thee
name
ὄνομάonoma
G3686
a "name" (literally or figuratively) (authority · noun — nominative singular neuter
And
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
answered
ἀποκρίνομαιapokrínomai
G611
to conclude for oneself
saying
λέγειlegei
G3004
properly · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
My
μοίmoí
G3427
to me
name
ὄνομάonoma
G3686
a "name" (literally or figuratively) (authority · noun — nominative singular neuter
Legion
λεγιὼνlegiōn
G3003
a "legion" · noun — nominative singular feminine, a title
for
ὅτιhoti
G3754
demonstrative · conjunction
are
ἐσμένesmén
G2070
we are
many
πολλοίpolloi
G4183
(singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) many · adjective — nominative plural masculine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Luke 8:30 And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him.
Mark 5:15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and…
Matthew 26:53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
Matthew 12:45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state o…
Luke 11:21-26 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Mark 5:1-20
We have here an instance of Christ's dispossessing the strong man armed, and disposing of him as he pleased, to make it appear that he was stronger than he. This he did when he was come to the other side, whither he went through a storm; his business there was to rescue this poor creature out of the hands of Satan, and when he had done that, he returned. Thus he came from heaven to earth, and returned, in a storm, to redeem a remnant of mankind out of the hands of the devil, though but a little remnant, and did not think his pains ill bestowed.
In Matthew, they were said to be two possessed with devils; here it is said to be a man possessed with an unclean spirit. If there were two, there wa…
Legion: for we are many - Could a disease have spoken so? "No, there was no devil in the case; the man spoke according to the prejudice of his countrymen." And do you think that the Spirit of God could employ himself in retailing such ridiculous and nonsensical prejudices? "But the evangelist gives these as this madman's words, and it was necessary that, as a faithful historian, he should mention these circumstances." But this objection is destroyed by the parallel place in Luke, Luk 8:30, where the inspired writer himself observes, that the demoniac was called Legion, because many demons had entered into him.
John Gill on Mark 5:9
And he asked him, what is thy name?.... Which question Christ put, not for his own sake; for he was not ignorant of his name, nor of the number of the unclean spirits which were in the man; but partly, that it might be known what a miserable condition this poor man was in, being infested, and vexed with such a large company of devils; and partly, that his own pity and power in delivering him, might be more manifest;
and he answered, saying, my name is Legion: the Syriac version renders it, "our name is Legion"; the reason of which name is given,
for we are many: as a Roman legion did consist of many, though its number was not always alike: in the time of Romulus, a legion consisted of thre…
(Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) Lest he should not be believed, if He affirmed there were many, He wishes that they themselves should confess it; wherefore there follows, And he saith unto him, Legion, for we are many. He gives not a fixed number, but a multitude, for such accuracy in the number would not help us to understand it.
Ye energumens, afflicted with unclean spirits, pray, and let us all earnestly pray for them, that God, the lover of mankind, will by Christ rebuke the unclean and wicked spirits, and deliver His supplicants from the dominion of the adversary. May He that rebuked the legion of demons, and the devil, the prince of wickedness, even now rebuke these apostates from piety, and deliver His own workmanship from his power, and cleanse those creatures which He has made with great wisdom.
Look too at Legion: when in anguish he begged, our Lord permitted the demons to enter into the herd. He asked for respite, without deception, in his anguish, and our Lord in his kindness granted this request. His compassion for the demoniac is a rebuke to the demons, showing how much anguish his love suffers in desiring that humans should live. Encouraged by the words I had heard, I knelt down and wept there, and spoke before our Lord: "Legion received his request from you without any tears. Permit me, with my tears, to make my request."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Crucifixion — A common mode of punishment among heathen nations in early times. It is not certain whether it was known among the ancient Jews; probably it was not. The modes of capital punishment according to the…
Devil — (Gr. diabolos), a slanderer, the arch-enemy of man’s spiritual interest (Job 1:6; Rev. 2:10; Zech. 3:1). He is called also “the accuser of the brethen” (Rev. 12:10). In Lev. 17:7 the word “devil” is…
Gergesa — =Gerasa, identified with the modern Khersa, “over against Galilee,” close to the lake. This was probably the scene of the miracle, Mark 5:1-20, etc. “From the base of the great plateau of Bashan,…
Legion — A regiment of the Roman army, the number of men composing which differed at different times. It originally consisted of three thousand men, but in the time of Christ consisted of six thousand,…
Demons · 8:28-34; — 8:28-34;
Gadarenes · Jesus visits and works miracles among, but is rejected — Jesus visits and works miracles among, but is rejected
Legion · General references — General references
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Mark 5:1-21
Mark 5:1-20
Matthew 8:28-34
Mark 5:1-20
Luke 8:26-39
28. And when he had come to the opposite bank, [542] into the country of the Gergesenes, two demoniacs, who had come from among the tombs, met him: and they were fierce beyond measure, so that no man could pass along that road. 29. And, lo, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, Son of God? Hast thou come hither before the time to torment us? 30. And at a distance from them there was a herd of many swine feeding. 31. And the devils entreated him, saying, If thou cast us out, permit us to remove into the herd of swine. 32. And he said to them, Go. And when they had gone out, they went away into the heard of swine.…
