Luke 8:34

Luke 8:34, in plain English

When the pig herders saw what happened, they ran off to tell everyone in town and in the countryside. The news spread fast.

Why it's here

Sometimes God's messengers are the least likely people. These herders were not disciples. They were just scared workers who ran and told everyone what they saw.

Who's speaking

Luke describes the swineherds' reaction.

Where it sits in the story

The pig herders could not believe what they had just seen. They took off running and told everyone they could find, in town and throughout the countryside, what had happened.

The scholarly reading

The pig herders (hoi boskontes), witnessing to gegonas ('what had happened'), fled and reported (apēngeilan) the events in both the polis ('town') and agrous ('countryside'). Their report serves as testimony that spreads the news of Jesus' power.

Language and setting

The swineherds function as inadvertent evangelists, their report motivated by shock rather than faith. The spread of news to both urban and rural settings ensures maximum community awareness of the event.

Voice

Luke narrates the swineherds' reaction and their role in spreading the news.

Significance

The pig herders, witnesses to the entire dramatic scene, ran to the town and surrounding countryside to spread the news of what had just happened on the lakeshore.

32There on the hillside a large herd of pigs was feeding. So the demons begged Jesus to let them enter the pigs, and He gave them permission.

33Then the demons came out of the man and went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

34When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside.

35So the people went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man whom the demons had left, sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

36Meanwhile, those who had seen it reported how the demon-possessed man had been healed.

Read all of Luke 8 — A storm, a legion of demons, a bleeding woman, and a dead girl — Jesus moves through a world of chaos and brings order with a word or a touch.