Matthäus 8:33

33 Und die Hirten flohen und gingen hin in die Stadt und sagten das alles und wie es mit den Besessenen ergangen war.

Matthäus 8:33 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 8:33

And they that kept them fled
The hog herds, men of very low life, and whose employment was very infamous and reproachful, as has been observed. These, amazed at what they had seen, distressed with the loss of the swine, and so of their employment, and frightened also lest they should incur the blame and displeasure of their masters, ran away in great haste, fear, and astonishment;

and went their way into the city;
either of Gergesa, or Gadara. Mark and Luke say, they "went and told it in the city, and in the country": in their fright and distress, some ran one way, and some another; some went into the city, others into the country, and so spread the affair far and near, and the fame of Christ, which was designed by this miracle;

and told everything
they saw and heard; how the devils entered into the swine, and they ran headlong into the sea, and were drowned: this they told first, as being done last, and with which they were most affected, and what chiefly concerned their employers; and after they had told every circumstance of the affair, next they gave a narrative of

what was befallen to the possessed of the devils,
and which was the occasion of the loss of their swine; how subject the devils, that were in them, were to Christ; how easily he dispossessed them by a word of command; how they entreated they might have leave to go into the herd of swine, which was granted; and how perfectly whole, and in health, both in body and mind, the men were.

Matthäus 8:33 In-Context

31 Da baten ihn die Teufel und sprachen: Willst du uns austreiben, so erlaube uns, in die Herde Säue zu fahren.
32 Und er sprach: Fahret hin! Da fuhren sie aus und in die Herde Säue. Und siehe, die ganze Herde Säue stürzte sich von dem Abhang ins Meer und ersoffen im Wasser.
33 Und die Hirten flohen und gingen hin in die Stadt und sagten das alles und wie es mit den Besessenen ergangen war.
34 Und siehe, da ging die ganze Stadt heraus Jesu entgegen. Und da sie ihn sahen, baten sie ihn, daß er aus ihrer Gegend weichen wollte.
The Luther Bible is in the public domain.