Luke 8:31

31 And the demons kept begging Jesus not to order them to go into the Abyss.

Luke 8:31 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 8:31

And they besought him
That is, all the devils, the whole legion of them, entreated Jesus, under whose power, and at whose dispose they were:

that he would not command them to go out into the deep;
meaning, not the deep waters of the sea, for thither they ran the swine at their own request; but the bottomless pit of hell, where others of these spirits lay in chains of darkness; and so the Ethiopic version renders it, "into hell": they desired, that when they went out of this man, they might not be ordered thither, or remanded to their former prison; for they knew that if he gave the word of command, they must obey; but that they might be suffered to continue in that country, and range about on earth, or be any where, rather than in hell.

Luke 8:31 In-Context

29 For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was bound with chains and shackles, he had broken the chains and been driven by the demon into solitary places.

30 “What is your name?” Jesus asked. “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him.

31 And the demons kept begging Jesus not to order them to go into the Abyss.

32 There 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.

33 Then 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.