Mark 5
International Children’s Bible
A Man with Demons Inside Him
5 Jesus and his followers went across the lake to the region of the Gerasene[a] people. 2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man came to him from the caves where dead people were buried. This man, who lived in the caves, had an evil spirit living in him. 3 No one could tie him up, not even with a chain. 4 Many times people had used chains to tie the man’s hands and feet. But he always broke the chains off. No one was strong enough to control him. 5 Day and night he would wander around the burial caves and on the hills, screaming and cutting himself with stones. 6 While Jesus was still far away, the man saw him. He ran to Jesus and knelt down before him. 7-8 Jesus said to the man, “You evil spirit, come out of that man.”
But the man shouted in a loud voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, promise God that you will not punish me!”
9 Then Jesus asked the man, “What is your name?”
The man answered, “My name is Legion,[b] because I have many spirits in me.” 10 The man begged Jesus again and again not to send the spirits out of that area.
11 A large herd of pigs was eating on a hill near there. 12 The evil spirits begged Jesus, “Send us to the pigs. Let us go into them.” 13 So Jesus allowed them to do this. The evil spirits left the man and went into the pigs. Then the herd of pigs rushed down the hill into the lake and were drowned. There were about 2,000 pigs in that herd.
14 The men who took care of the pigs ran away. They went to the town and to the countryside, telling everyone about this. So people went out to see what had happened. 15 They came to Jesus and saw the man who had had the many evil spirits. The man was sitting there, clothed and in his right mind. The people were frightened. 16 Some people were there who saw what Jesus had done. They told the others what had happened to the man who had the demons living in him. And they also told about the pigs. 17 Then the people began to beg Jesus to leave their area.
18 Jesus was getting ready to leave in the boat. The man who was freed from the demons begged to go with him.
19 But Jesus would not allow the man to go. Jesus said, “Go home to your family and friends. Tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 So the man left and told the people in the Ten Towns[c] about the great things Jesus had done for him. All the people were amazed.
Jesus Gives Life to a Dead Girl and Heals A Sick Woman
21 Jesus went in the boat back to the other side of the lake. There, a large crowd gathered around him. 22 A ruler from the synagogue, named Jairus, came to that place. Jairus saw Jesus and bowed before him. 23 The ruler begged Jesus again and again. He said, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her. Then she will be healed and will live.” 24 So Jesus went with the ruler, and many people followed Jesus. They were pushing very close around him.
25 A woman was there who had been bleeding for the past 12 years. 26 She had suffered very much. Many doctors had tried to help her. She had spent all the money she had, but she was not improving. She was getting worse. 27 When the woman heard about Jesus, she followed him with the people and touched his coat. 28 The woman thought, “If I can even touch his coat, that will be enough to heal me.” 29 When she touched his coat, her bleeding stopped. She could feel in her body that she was healed.
30 At once Jesus felt power go out from him. So he stopped and turned around. Then he asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 The followers said, “There are so many people pushing against you! And you ask, ‘Who touched me?’”
32 But Jesus continued looking around to see who had touched him. 33 The woman knew that she was healed. So she came and bowed at Jesus’ feet. Shaking with fear, she told him the whole story. 34 Jesus said to the woman, “Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace. You will have no more suffering.”
35 Jesus was still speaking to her when some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. The men said, “Your daughter is dead. There is now no need to bother the teacher.”
36 But Jesus paid no attention to what the men said. He said to the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; only believe.”
37 Jesus let only Peter, James, and John the brother of James go with him to Jairus’s house. 38 They came to the house of the synagogue ruler, and Jesus found many people there crying loudly. There was much confusion. 39 Jesus entered the house and said to the people, “Why are you crying and making so much noise? This child is not dead. She is only asleep.” 40 But they only laughed at Jesus. He told all the people to leave. Then he went into the room where the child was. He took the child’s father and mother and his three followers into the room with him. 41 Then he took hold of the girl’s hand and said to her, “Talitha, koum!” (This means, “Little girl, I tell you to stand up!”) 42 The girl stood right up and began walking. (She was 12 years old.) The father and mother and the followers were amazed. 43 Jesus gave the father and mother strict orders not to tell people about this. Then he told them to give the girl some food.
Footnotes
- 5:1 Gerasene From Gerasa, an area southeast of Lake Galilee. The exact location is uncertain and some Greek copies read, “Gergesene”; others read “Gadarene.”
- 5:9 Legion Means very many. A legion was about 5,000 men in the Roman army.
- 5:20 Ten Towns In Greek, called “Decapolis.” It was an area east of Lake Galilee that once had ten main towns.
Mark 5
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
5 They came to the other side of the sea to the region of the Gerasenes.
2 And as soon as He got out of the boat, there met Him out of the tombs a man [under the power] of an unclean spirit.
3 This man [a]continually lived among the tombs, and no one could subdue him any more, even with a chain;
4 For he had been bound often with shackles for the feet and [b]handcuffs, but the handcuffs of [light] chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he rubbed and ground together and broke in pieces; and no one had strength enough to restrain or tame him.
5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always [c]shrieking and screaming and [d]beating and bruising and [e]cutting himself with stones.
6 And when from a distance he saw Jesus, he ran and fell on his knees before Him in homage,
7 And crying out with a loud voice, he said, What have You to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? [What is there in common between us?] I [f]solemnly implore you by God, do not begin to torment me!
8 For Jesus was commanding, Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!
9 And He asked him, What is your name? He replied, My name is Legion, for we are many.
10 And he kept begging Him urgently not to send them [himself and the other demons] away out of that region.
11 Now a great herd of hogs was grazing there on the hillside.
12 And the demons begged Him, saying, Send us to the hogs, that we may go into them!
13 So He gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out [of the man] and entered into the hogs; and the herd, numbering about 2,000, rushed headlong down the steep slope into the sea and were drowned in the sea.
14 The hog feeders ran away, and told [it] in the town and in the country. And [the people] came to see what it was that had taken place.
15 And they came to Jesus and looked intently and searchingly at the man who had been a demoniac, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, [the same man] who had had the legion [of demons]; and they were [g]seized with alarm and struck with fear.
16 And those who had seen it related in full what had happened to the man possessed by demons and to the hogs.
17 And they began to beg [Jesus] to leave their neighborhood.
18 And when He had stepped into the boat, the man who had been controlled by the unclean spirits kept begging Him that he might be with Him.
19 But Jesus refused to permit him, but said to him, Go home to your own [family and relatives and friends] and bring back word to them of how much the Lord has done for you, and [how He has] had sympathy for you and mercy on you.
20 And he departed and began to publicly proclaim in Decapolis [the region of the ten cities] how much Jesus had done for him, and all the people were astonished and marveled.(A)
21 And when Jesus had recrossed in the boat to the other side, a great throng gathered about Him, and He was at the lakeshore.
22 Then one of the rulers of the synagogue came up, Jairus by name; and seeing Him, he prostrated himself at His feet
23 And begged Him earnestly, saying, My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, so that she may be healed and live.
24 And Jesus went with him; and a great crowd kept following Him and pressed Him [h]from all sides [so as almost to suffocate Him].
25 And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years,
26 And who had endured much [i]suffering under [the hands of] many physicians and had spent all that she had, and was no better but instead grew worse.
27 She had heard the reports concerning Jesus, and she came up behind Him in the throng and touched His garment,
28 For she kept saying, If I only touch His garments, I shall be restored to health.
29 And immediately her flow of blood was dried up at the source, and [[j]suddenly] she felt in her body that she was healed of her [[k]distressing] ailment.
30 And Jesus, recognizing in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around immediately in the crowd and said, Who touched My clothes?
31 And the disciples kept saying to Him, You see the crowd pressing hard around You [l]from all sides, and You ask, Who touched Me?
32 Still He kept looking around to see her who had done it.
33 But the woman, knowing what had been done for her, though alarmed and frightened and trembling, fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.
34 And He said to her, Daughter, your faith (your [m]trust and confidence in Me, springing from faith in God) has restored you to health. Go in [n](into) peace and be continually healed and freed from your [[o]distressing bodily] disease.
35 While He was still speaking, there came some from the ruler’s house, who said [to Jairus], Your daughter has died. Why bother and distress the Teacher any further?
36 [p]Overhearing but ignoring what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, Do not be seized with alarm and struck with fear; only keep on believing.
37 And He permitted no one to accompany Him except Peter and James and John the brother of James.
38 When they arrived at the house of the ruler of the synagogue, He [q]looked [carefully and with understanding] at [the] tumult and the people weeping and wailing loudly.
39 And when He had gone in, He said to them, Why do you make an uproar and weep? The little girl is not dead but is sleeping.
40 And they laughed and [r]jeered at Him. But He put them all out, and, taking the child’s father and mother and those who were with Him, He went in where the little girl was lying.
41 Gripping her [firmly] by the hand, He said to her, Talitha cumi—which translated is, Little girl, I say to you, arise [[s]from the sleep of death]!
42 And instantly the girl got up and started walking around—for she was twelve years old. And they were utterly astonished and overcome with amazement.
43 And He strictly commanded and warned them that no one should know this, and He [[t]expressly] told them to give her [something] to eat.
Footnotes
- Mark 5:3 Kenneth Wuest, Word Studies.
- Mark 5:4 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
- Mark 5:5 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
- Mark 5:5 James Moulton and George Milligan, The Vocabulary.
- Mark 5:5 G. Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon.
- Mark 5:7 Kenneth Wuest, Word Studies.
- Mark 5:15 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
- Mark 5:24 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
- Mark 5:26 Marvin Vincent, Word Studies.
- Mark 5:29 Kenneth Wuest, Word Studies.
- Mark 5:29 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
- Mark 5:31 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
- Mark 5:34 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
- Mark 5:34 Kenneth Wuest, Word Studies.
- Mark 5:34 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
- Mark 5:36 Some manuscripts so read.
- Mark 5:38 Kenneth Wuest, Word Studies.
- Mark 5:40 G. Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon.
- Mark 5:41 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
- Mark 5:43 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
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