Luke 8:31
And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.
English Standard Version (ESV)
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Luke 8:31
And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.
English Standard Version (ESV)
This page isn't yet indexed by search engines.
These demons, despite their malice, reveal a profound terror of the "abyss," not just a deep body of water, but a place of ultimate confinement and separation from God. Their desperate plea isn't just to escape Jesus, but to avoid a final, irreversible fate where they can no longer interact with the world.
Jesus has just encountered a man possessed by a legion of demons, who, speaking through the man, beg Jesus not to send them into the abyss. Instead, they request permission to enter a nearby herd of pigs, which Jesus allows, leading to the pigs plunging into the sea and perishing. The ensuing fear and loss cause the local people to beg Jesus to leave their region.
Why would demons, powerful and malevolent, beg Jesus to spare them from a specific place? Their fear reveals something profound about their ultimate destiny.
When Jesus encountered the 'Legion' of demons, they didn't just want to escape the man; they pleaded with Him not to send them into 'the abyss.' This 'abyss' isn't just a deep hole; it's consistently understood in Scripture as a place of confinement for rebellious spiritual forces, a prison awaiting final judgment.
These powerful spiritual beings tremble before Jesus. What does their interaction reveal about Jesus' power and the limits of demonic influence?
The encounter with Legion isn't just a story of deliverance; it's a stark demonstration of Jesus' supreme authority. The demons, despite their terrifying power and numbers, acknowledge Jesus as the 'Son of the Most High God' and recognize His power over their very existence and destiny.
Understand the original words
abyssos · Greek Noun
A term referring to the lower regions of the earth or the underworld, specifically understood in this context as the place of imprisonment and punishment for fallen angels (demons) awaiting final judgment.
Iēsous · Greek Proper Noun
The unique, God-man Savior of the world who possesses divine authority over the physical, spiritual, and supernatural realms, including the power to command and cast out demonic entities.
The demons' desperate plea to avoid the 'abyss' highlights their awareness of a future, terrifying judgment, distinct from their present torment and their ability to influence the physical world.
Early 1st century AD
Jesus ministry in Galilee
Jesus conducted much of his public ministry in the region of Galilee, attracting large crowds and performing numerous miracles, including exorcisms.
Early 1st century AD— this verse
The Gerasene Demoniac encounter
Jesus encountered a man with an unclean spirit, or possibly multiple spirits (a 'Legion'), in the region of the Gerasenes, east of the Sea of Galilee.
Early 1st century AD
Demons' plea to enter swine
The demons begged Jesus not to send them into the abyss but to allow them to enter a herd of pigs nearby.
Early 1st century AD
Destruction of the swine herd
Jesus allowed the demons to enter the pigs, and the entire herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed into the sea and drowned.
This passage directly refers to the 'abyss' (or 'bottomless pit') as a place of confinement for demonic forces, highlighting the dread the demons expressed in Luke 8:31.
2 Peter 2:4This verse speaks of angels who sinned being cast into hell and committed to 'pits of darkness' to be kept for judgment, paralleling the demons' fear of being sent to such a place of punishment.
Jude 1:6This passage mentions angels who 'did not keep within their proper bounds' but left their dwelling place, and are now held 'in everlasting chains under darkness' for judgment, resonating with the demons' plea to avoid their ultimate confinement.
Romans 10:7Quoting Deuteronomy 30:13, this verse speaks of bringing Christ down from heaven or 'raising him from the dead,' but the context in other writings often links the 'deep' to a place of the dead or the underworld, which the demons feared.
pulpitLuke 8:31: "And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep."
Verse 31. - And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. This time the voice and the request apparently proceed from the terrible presence which had made the soul of the unhappy man their temporary habitation. The direful confusion in the state of the poor demoniac is shown by this request. By whom was it made? The bystanders could discern no difference between the possess…
ellicottLuke 8:31: "And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep."
(31) To go out into the deep. —Better, into the abyss. The word is not found in the other Gospels, and it clearly means, not the deep waters of the Galilean lake, but the pit, the “bottomless pit” of Revelation 9:1-2 ; Revelation 9:11 . The man, identifying himself with the demons, asks for any doom rather than that.
These demons, despite their malice, reveal a profound terror of the "abyss," not just a deep body of water, but a place of ultimate confinement and separation from God. Their desperate plea isn't just to escape Jesus, but to avoid a final, irreversible fate where they can no longer interact with the world.
Jesus has just encountered a man possessed by a legion of demons, who, speaking through the man, beg Jesus not to send them into the abyss. Instead, they request permission to enter a nearby herd of pigs, which Jesus allows, leading to the pigs plunging into the sea and perishing. The ensuing fear and loss cause the local people to beg Jesus to leave their region.
Jesus has just encountered a man possessed by a legion of demons, who, speaking through the man, beg Jesus not to send them into the abyss. Instead, they request permission to enter a nearby herd of pigs, which Jesus allows, leading to the pigs plunging into the sea and perishing. The ensuing fear and loss cause the local people to beg Jesus to leave their region.
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Early 1st century AD
Gerasenes' fear and request
The local inhabitants, witnessing the event and fearing Jesus' power, asked him to leave their territory.
"And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss." — These demons, despite their malice, reveal a profound terror of the "abyss," not just a deep body of water, but a place of ultimate confinement and separation from God. Their desperate plea isn't jus…