Luke Chapter 8 verse 32 Holy Bible
Now there was there a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they entreated him that he would give them leave to enter into them. And he gave them leave.
read chapter 8 in ASV
Now there was a great herd of pigs in that place, getting food on the mountain: and the evil spirits made a request to him that he would let them go into the pigs, and he let them.
read chapter 8 in BBE
And there was there a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain, and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into those; and he suffered them.
read chapter 8 in DARBY
And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them.
read chapter 8 in KJV
read chapter 8 in WBT
Now there was there a herd of many pigs feeding on the mountain, and they begged him that he would allow them to enter into those. He allowed them.
read chapter 8 in WEB
and there was there a herd of many swine feeding in the mountain, and they were calling on him, that he might suffer them to enter into these, and he suffered them,
read chapter 8 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 32. - And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. For what end was this request? Was it simply the way they chose to enter the abyss by? We know that the lives of the creatures, after the permission was given, lasted but a few minutes at most. Was it a desire to do more mischief during their brief sojourn on earth? Theophylact (eighth century) suggests that the purpose of the evil spirits, in their request, was to injure Jesus in that part of the country by arousing fears among the covetous inhabitants lest they too might lose, in a similar way, their herds. But to the writer of this note it seems best to confess that no satisfactory answer can ever be given here. We know so little of these dread spirits of evil. The reason of the Lord's permission is more obvious. Some such visible proof as the sight of the evil and unclean forces that had mastered him so long, transferred to the bodies of other creatures and working their wild will upon them, was probably a necessary element in his perfect cure. It is likely also that Jesus wished to show his indignation at the flagrant disregard of the Mosaic Law, at the open disobedience to the Divine injunctions respecting swine, which was shown by the presence of so vast a herd of these animals pronounced unclean by the Mosaic Law under which these people were professedly living (St. Mark gives the number as two thousand). In this district the large majority of the inhabitants were Jews. The keeping or the rearing of swine was strictly forbidden by the Jewish canon law. Other Oriental peoples also held these animals as unclean. Herodotus (it. 47) tells us that in Egypt there was a special class of swineherds, who alone among the inhabitants of the country were forbidden to enter a temple. This degraded caste were only allowed to marry among themselves. The eating of swine's flesh is referred to by Isaiah (Isaiah 65:3, 4)as among the acts of the people which continually provoked the Lord to anger.
