Mark 5:13

Mark 5:13, in plain English

Jesus gives them permission, and the evil spirits rush into the pigs. Instantly, the whole herd — about two thousand animals — stampedes down a steep cliff into the lake and drowns.

Why it's here

This is shocking and dramatic, but it reveals something important: what those demons were doing to that man every single day was this destructive. The pigs show the true cost of evil.

Who's speaking

Mark describes the terrifying result of the demons entering the pigs.

Where it sits in the story

Two thousand pigs destroyed in moments. It's a vivid, unforgettable picture of what evil really does. And it shows you what Jesus rescued that man from — total destruction.

The scholarly reading

Jesus grants permission (epetrepsen), and the unclean spirits enter approximately two thousand pigs (dis chilioi) that rush down the steep bank (kata tou kremnou) into the sea and drown — graphically demonstrating the legion's destructive nature.

Language and setting

The drowning of the pigs serves multiple functions: it proves the exorcism's reality, reveals the demons' inherently destructive character, and may symbolically echo the Egyptians drowning in the Red Sea (Exod 15:4).

Voice

Mark narrates the dramatic result of Jesus granting the demons' request.

Significance

Jesus permits the transfer, and two thousand pigs stampede down a cliff into the sea and drown. The demons' true destructive nature is revealed — what they did to pigs, they were doing to the man.

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.

14Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.

15When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

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.