8:30a

Jesus asked: Jesus asked the man what his name was. But it was the demon who answered, speaking through the man.

8:30b

Legion: The word Legion referred to the largest unit of soldiers in the Roman army. A legion had between four thousand and six thousand soldiers. The demon called himself Legion because there were many demons along with him that were controlling the man.

Here are some ways to translate Legion in this context:

• Preferably, use a military word that describes a large group of soldiers. For example:

Army
-or-
Regiment
-or-
Thousands of Soldiers

• Use a word that describes a large number. It should be large enough to go well with the two thousand pigs mentioned in Mark 5:13. For example:

Hundreds/Thousands

• Use a word that describes a very large group of people. For example:

Crowd
-or-
Horde
-or-
Mob (Good News Translation)

he replied: In the Greek text, the words that the Berean Standard Bible translates as he replied come before the demon’s speech. The Berean Standard Bible has placed the phrase he replied after what the demon said because that is natural in English for this context. Place it where it is most natural in your language.

8:30c

because many demons had gone into him: When a demon controlled a person, the Jews thought of the demon as being in the person. Use a natural way in your language to describe when a demon begins to control a person.

demons: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as demons is the same word as in 8:27b.

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