5:15a

When they came to Jesus: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates When they came to Jesus indicates that the people “arrived” at the place where Jesus was and came to him.

5:15b–c

This part of the verse tells what the people saw. They saw that the man who had been controlled by evil spirits was now in his right mind. The text focuses on the great change in the man. Here are some ways to express this focus:

…they saw that the man who had once been controlled by the army/regiment of unclean spirits was now sitting there, wearing clothes, and in his right mind.
-or-
…they saw the man sitting calmly, wearing clothes, and in his right mind. He was the same man who had been controlled by the mob/horde of unclean spirits.

the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons: Refer to the man in a way that is natural in your language to describe someone whom an evil spirit had controlled. See the note on 5:2b. It may be necessary to indicate explicitly that at this time the unclean spirits no longer controlled the man. The Berean Standard Bible indicates this with the verb form who had been possessed.

Here are some other ways to indicate it in English:

who once had been full of demons (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
who used to have the many evil spirits (New Century Version)

legion of demons: Translate legion in the same way that you translated it at 5:9b. For demons, use the term that you have used throughout this story to refer to unclean spirits.

sitting there, clothed and in his right mind: When the people saw the man, he was:

(a) sitting calmly,

(b) wearing clothes,

(c) in his right mind.

Of these three things, probably the fact that he was in his right mind is the most important. Consider whether it would be more natural in your language to place this first in the list rather than last. For example:

he was in his right mind, dressed, and sitting there calmly

sitting there: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as sitting there indicates that the man was seated there peacefully. People saw by this that he was no longer wild and uncontrollable.

clothed: In this context the word clothed implies that before Jesus healed him, the man was naked. Luke 8:27 says this explicitly. In some languages it may be more natural to say this clearly, either here or when the man was first described in 5:2–5. For example, here you could say:

he was wearing clothes instead of being naked as he was before

in his right mind: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as in his right mind means that the man was no longer insane. His mind was normal. In many languages this is expressed by an idiom. For example:

his mind was right/straight
-or-
his mind had returned

5:15d

and they were afraid: Although the people were looking at the rescued man, they were afraid of Jesus. When Jesus delivered the man from the unclean spirits, he showed that he had great supernatural power. This caused the people to be afraid of him. Translate they were afraid with the expression that you would use in your language to describe this feeling of “fear” or “dread.” See how you translated the similar words and emotion at 4:41a.

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
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