Luke 8:31

31 And they besought him yt he wolde not comaunde the to goo out into ye depe.

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 Then he comaunded ye foule sprete to come out of the man. For ofte tymes he caught him and he was bounde with chaynes and kept with fetters: and he brake the bondes and was caryed of the fende into wyldernes.

30 And Iesus axed him sayinge: what is thy name? And he sayde: Legion because many devyls were entred into him.

31 And they besought him yt he wolde not comaunde the to goo out into ye depe.

32 And ther was there by an heerde of many swyne fedynge on an hyll: and they besought him yt he wolde soffre the to enter into the. And he soffred the.

33 Then went the devyls out of the man and entred into the swyne: And the heerd toke their course and ran heedlynge into the lake and were choked.