8:37a
all the people of the region of the Gerasenes: The phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as all the people is literally “all the multitude.” It is a hyperbole that emphasizes that the people of the region rejected Jesus. It refers to the population as a whole, but it probably does not mean that every person in the region asked him to leave. In some languages it may be good to translate this as “the people” rather than all the people.
the region of the Gerasenes: See how you translated this phrase at 8:26a. A discussion of the textual issue concerning Gerasenes is found at 8:26a.
asked Jesus to depart from them: The request for Jesus to depart from them implies that the people wanted him to leave the area. There are two ways to translate this:
• As indirect speech. For example:
all the people…asked Jesus to leave (God’s Word)
-or-
all the people…begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone (New Living Translation (2004))
• As direct speech. For example:
all the people…asked Jesus, “Please leave us.”
8:37b
great fear had taken hold of them: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as great fear had taken hold of them is literally “they were distressed/tormented with great fear.” The phrase emphasizes that the people were very afraid. Use a strong expression in your language. Many languages may have an idiomatic expression to describe such fear. Some other ways to translate this in English are:
they were seized with great fear (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
they were terribly afraid (Good News Translation)
-or-
they were thoroughly frightened (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
they were terrified (God’s Word)
General Comment on 8:37a–b
In some languages it may be more natural to place the reason in 8:37b before its result in 8:37a. For example:
37bThen all the people of the region of the Gerasenes were seized with great fear 37aso they asked Jesus to go away from them.
8:37c
He got into the boat and started back: Jesus did not actually leave until after he had talked with the man in 8:38–39. If this might be a problem in your language, here are options to consider:
• Translate 8:37c in a way that indicates intention to leave or preparation to leave. For example:
he got into the boat in order to return
-or-
he got into the boat and prepared to leave
• Translate 8:38a with an explanation that before Jesus actually left, the man asked him if he might go with him. For example:
⌊But before he left,⌋ the man…
He got into the boat: Some languages may have a specific word for this action such as “board” or “embark” in English. If not, you could simply say that Jesus “stepped/climbed/went into the boat.”
When Jesus got into the boat, his disciples also got into it. The author does not mention the disciples here, because Jesus is in focus. However, in some languages if a translator does not mention the disciples, it may imply that they stayed in the region. This is especially true if the translation mentions in 8:27a that they got out of the boat. If that is true in your language, here are some ways that you could include them:
Jesus ⌊along with the disciples⌋ got into the boat…
-or-
Jesus ⌊and the disciples⌋ got into the boat…
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