Mark 5:11

Christian Standard Bible ®

A large herd of pigs was there, feeding on the hillside.

Parallel Translations

King James Version (1611)
Now there was there nigh vnto the mountaines a great herd of swine, feeding.

King James Version
Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.

English Standard Version
Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside,

New American Standard Bible
Now there was a large herd of pigs feeding nearby on the mountain.

New Century Version
A large herd of pigs was feeding on a hill near there.

Amplified Bible
Now there was a large herd of pigs grazing there on the mountain.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain.

Legacy Standard Bible
Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain.

Berean Standard Bible
There on the nearby hillside a large herd of pigs was feeding.

Contemporary English Version
Over on the hillside a large herd of pigs was feeding.

Complete Jewish Bible
Now there was a large herd of pigs feeding near the hill,

Darby Translation
Now there was there just at the mountain a great herd of swine feeding;

Easy-to-Read Version
A large herd of pigs was eating on a hill near there.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Now there was there in the mountaines a great heard of swine, feeding.

George Lamsa Translation
Now there was there, near the mountain a large herd of swine feeding.

Good News Translation
There was a large herd of pigs near by, feeding on a hillside.

Lexham English Bible
Now a large herd of pigs was there at the hill feeding,

Literal Translation
And a great herd of pigs were feeding there near the mountain.

American Standard Version
Now there was there on the mountain side a great herd of swine feeding.

Bible in Basic English
Now on the mountain side there was a great herd of pigs getting their food.

Hebrew Names Version
Now there was on the mountainside a great herd of pigs feeding.

International Standard Version
Now a large herd of pigs was grazing on a hillside nearby.

Etheridge Translation
Now at the mountain there was a great herd of swine feeding.

Murdock Translation
And there was there by the mountain, a great herd of swine grazing.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
But there was there, nye vnto the mountaynes, a great hearde of swyne feedyng.

English Revised Version
Now there was there on the mountain side a great herd of swine feeding.

World English Bible
Now there was on the mountainside a great herd of pigs feeding.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Now there was there at the mountain a great herd of swine feeding.

Weymouth's New Testament
Feeding there, on the mountain slope, was a great herd of swine.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And there was there aboute the hille a greet flok of swyn lesewynge.

Update Bible Version
Now there was there on the mountain side a great herd of swine feeding.

Webster's Bible Translation
Now there was there nigh to the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.

New English Translation
There on the hillside, a great herd of pigs was feeding.

New King James Version
Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains.

New Living Translation
There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby.

New Life Bible
There were many pigs feeding on the mountain side.

New Revised Standard
Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Now there was there, near the mountain, a large herd of swine, feeding;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And there was there near the mountain a great herd of swine, feeding.

Revised Standard Version
Now a great herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside;

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And ther was there nye vnto ye moutayns a greate heerd of swyne fedinge

Young's Literal Translation
And there was there, near the mountains, a great herd of swine feeding,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And euen there in the mountaynes there was a greate heerd of swyne fedynge,

Mace New Testament (1729)
now there was a great herd of swine feeding upon the mountain;

THE MESSAGE
A large herd of pigs was browsing and rooting on a nearby hill. The demons begged him, "Send us to the pigs so we can live in them." Jesus gave the order. But it was even worse for the pigs than for the man. Crazed, they stampeded over a cliff into the sea and drowned.

Simplified Cowboy Version
He then begged Jesus not to throw a trip on them.

Contextual Overview

¹They came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gerasenes. ²As soon as he got out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came out of the tombs and met him. ³He lived in the tombs, and no one was able to restrain him anymore—not even with a chain— ⁴because he often had been bound with shackles and chains, but had torn the chains apart and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. ⁵Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains, he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. ⁶When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and knelt down before him. ⁷And he cried out with a loud voice, “What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you before God, don’t torment me!” ⁸For he had told him, “Come out of the man, you unclean ⁹“What is your name?” ¹⁰And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the region.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

herd: Leviticus 11:7, Leviticus 11:8, Deuteronomy 14:8, Isaiah 65:4, Isaiah 66:3, Matthew 8:30, Luke 8:32

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Now there was there, nigh unto the mountains,.... Where this man often was, Mark 5:5 according to Beza, the mountains of Galaad, which ran through that country, or the mountains that surrounded Tiberias. Some copies, as the Alexandrian copy and others, read "at", or "about the mountain", in the singular number. The Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions read, "about the mountain". The Syriac and Ethiopic, "at the mountain"; so in Luke 8:32,

a great herd of swine feeding; on one side of the mountain, or mountains; it may be called a great one, for there were about two thousand hogs in it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See this account of the demoniacs fully explained in the notes at Matthew 8:28-34.

Mark 5:4

He had been often bound with fetters and chains - Efforts had been made to confine him, but his great strength - his strength increased by his malady - had prevented it. There often appears to be a great increase of strength produced by insanity, and what is here stated in regard to this maniac often occurs in Palestine and elsewhere now. Dr. Thomson (“The Land and the Book,” vol. i. p. 213) says respecting this case: “There are some very similar at the present day - furious and dangerous maniacs, who wander about the mountains, and sleep in tombs and caves. In their worst paroxysms they are quite unmanageable and prodigiously strong.” Luke 8:27 says of him that “he were no clothes,” or that he was naked, which is also implied in the account in Mark, who tells us that after he was healed he was found “clothed and in his right mind,” Mark 4:15. This is often a striking characteristic of insanity. Dr. Pritchard (on “Insanity,” p. 26) quotes from an Italian physician’s description of raving madness or mania: “A striking and characteristic circumstance is the propensity to go quite naked. The patient tears his clothes to tatters.” So Dr. Thomson (“The Land and the Book,” vol. i. p. 213) says: “It is one of the most common traits in this madness that the victims refuse to wear clothes. I have often seen them absolutely naked in the crowded streets of Beirut and Sidon. There are also cases in which they run wildly about the country and frighten the whole neighborhood. These poor wretches are held in the greatest reverence by Muslims, who, through some monstrous perversion of ideas, believe them to be inspired and peculiarly holy.”

Mark 5:5

Cutting himself with stones - These are all marks of a madman - a man bereft of reason, a wretched outcast, strong and dangerous. The inspired penman says that this madness was caused by an unclean spirit, or by his being under the influence of a devil. That this account is not irrational, see the notes at Matthew 4:24.

Mark 5:6

Worshipped him - Bowed down before him; rendered him homage. This was an acknowledgment of his power, and of his control over fallen spirits.

Mark 5:9

My name is Legion - See the notes at Matthew 8:29.

Mark 5:15

Sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind - There could be no doubt of the reality of this miracle. The man had been well known. He had long dwelt among the tombs, an object of terror and alarm. To see him all at once peaceful, calm, and rational, was proof that it was the power of God only that had done it.

They were afraid - They were awed, as in the presence of God. The word does not mean here that they feared that any evil would happen to them, but that they were affected with awe; they felt that God was there; they were struck with astonishment at what Jesus had done.

Mark 5:19

Jesus suffered him not - Various reasons have been conjectured why Jesus did not suffer this man to go with him. It might have been that he wished to leave him among the people as a conclusive evidence of his power to work miracles. Or it might have been that the man feared that if Jesus left him the devils would return, and that Jesus told him to remain to show to him that the cure was complete, and that he had power over the devils when absent as well as when present. But the probable reason is, that he desired to restore him to his family and friends. Jesus was unwilling to delay the joy of his friends, and to prolong their anxiety by suffering him to remain away from them.

Mark 5:20

In Decapolis - See the notes at Matthew 4:25.

How great things ... - This was the natural expression of right feeling at being cured of such a calamity. So the desire of sinners freed from sin is to honor Jesus, and to invite the world to participate in the same salvation, and to join them in doing honor to the Son of God. Compare Psalms 66:16.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Mark 5:11. A great herd of swine — Matthew 8:30; Matthew 8:30.