Bible Strands
Luke 8:28
When the man saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before Him, shouting in a loud voice, “What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You not to torture me!”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The demon-possessed man, who has long lived naked in tombs, sees Jesus step ashore and falls before Him while shouting. He addresses Jesus directly as the Son of the Most High God at the moment of divine confrontation.
The words — The text records ἀνακράξας (anakraxas), meaning “having cried out,” and προσέπεσεν (prosepesen), meaning “he fell down before.” These verbs describe the man’s sudden, physical reaction upon seeing Jesus.
The thread — The man’s plea for relief from torture matches the demons’ cry in Matthew 8:29, while the imagery of binding and torment corresponds to the chains of darkness in 2 Peter 2:4 and the judgment on the serpent in Isaiah 27:1. These passages collectively trace the biblical pattern of divine authority over unclean spirits and their destined punishment.
Why it lands — The passage requires acknowledgment of Jesus’ immediate power to confront and command spiritual forces. It demands the reader accept that divine intervention overrides all resistance and that the threat of torment is real and imminent.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.
Cross-references
- Matthew 8:29 “What do You want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have You come here to torture us before the appointed time?”
- 2 Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;
- Isaiah 27:1 In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent—Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea.
- Mark 1:24 “What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
- Mark 5:6 When the man saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees before Him.
- Luke 4:33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon. He cried out in a loud voice,
- Luke 8:37 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to depart from them, because great fear had taken hold of them. So He got into the boat and started back.
- Acts 16:16 One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl with a spirit of divination, who earned a large income for her masters by fortune-telling.
- James 2:19 You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
- 1 John 3:8 The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.