Mark 5:11

Mark 5:11, in plain English

Nearby on the hillside, there was a huge herd of pigs feeding. This detail confirms they were in non-Jewish territory — and it's about to become very important.

Why it's here

Pigs were considered unclean by Jewish law, so a large herd of them tells you this is definitely Gentile country. The stage is being set for something dramatic.

Who's speaking

Mark describes the setting around the encounter.

Where it sits in the story

Mark casually mentions a herd of pigs on the hillside, and if you know what's coming, you feel the tension building. Those pigs are about to play an unexpected role.

The scholarly reading

The presence of a 'large herd of pigs' (agele choiron megale) confirms the Gentile setting, as Jews considered pigs unclean (Lev 11:7). The herd's presence on a 'nearby hillside' sets the stage for the demons' request.

Language and setting

The pigs serve both the narrative function of providing a visible destination for the expelled demons and a theological function of demonstrating the reality and destructiveness of demonic power.

Voice

Mark describes the scene, noting the nearby herd of pigs.

Significance

A large herd of pigs feeds on the hillside — a detail that locates us firmly in non-Jewish territory and provides the setting for the dramatic next act of this exorcism.

9“What is your name?” Jesus asked.

10And he begged Jesus repeatedly not to send them out of that region.

11There on the nearby hillside a large herd of pigs was feeding.

12So the demons begged Jesus, “Send us to the pigs, so that we may enter them.”

13He gave them permission, and the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs, and the herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the water.

Read all of Mark 5 — A man possessed by a thousand demons, a woman who has bled for twelve years, a father whose daughter has just died — all healed in a single chapter.