Goodspeed(i)
1 So they reached the other side of the sea, and landed in the region of Gerasa.
2 As soon as he got out of the boat, a man possessed by a foul spirit came out of the burial places near by to meet him.
3 This man lived among the tombs, and no one could any longer secure him even with a chain,
4 for he had often been fastened with fetters and chains and had snapped the chains and broken the fetters; and there was no one strong enough to master him,
5 and night and day he was always shrieking among the tombs and on the hills and cutting himself with stones.
6 And catching sight of Jesus in the distance he ran up and made obeisance to him
7 and screamed out, "What do you want of me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? In God's name, I implore you, do not torture me."
8 For he was saying to him, "You foul spirit, come out of this man."
9 He asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "My name is Legion, for there are many of us."
10 And they begged him earnestly not to send them out of that country.
11 Now there was a great drove of pigs feeding there on the hillside.
12 And they implored him, "Send us among the pigs, let us go into them."
13 So he gave them permission. And the foul spirits came out and went into the pigs, and the drove of about two thousand rushed over the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned.
14 And the men who tended them ran away and spread the news in the town and in the country around, and the people came to see what had happened.
15 When they came to Jesus and found the demoniac sitting quietly with his clothes on and in his right mind—the same man who had been possessed by Legion—they were frightened.
16 And those who had seen it told them what had happened to the demoniac, and all about the pigs.
17 And they began to beg him to leave their district.
18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed begged to be allowed to go with him.
19 And he would not permit it, but said to him, "Go home to your own people, and tell them all the Lord has done for you and how he took pity on you."
20 And he went off and began to tell everybody in the Ten Towns all Jesus had done for him; and they were all astonished.