8:33a

Those tending the pigs: The phrase Those tending the pigs refers to the men who took care of the pigs as their job. Some languages will have a specific term such as “pig herders.”

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

The herdsmen (English Standard Version)
-or-
The people taking care of the pigs (Contemporary English Version)

ran off: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as ran off means “ran away” or “fled.” These pig herders ran away possibly because they were frightened by what had happened.

It is implied that the pig herders saw the pigs rush down the hill and drown in the lake. In 8:33c, it is also implied that they saw Jesus and what he did to the demon-possessed men. In some languages, it will be natural to include some of this implied information. For example:

⌊saw that/this and⌋ ran away

8:33b

town: The word town here refers to the town of Gadara. The city of Gadara is mentioned in 8:28b. If you used a word such as “city” or “town” to describe Gadara in 8:28b, you should use the same word here.

reported all this: The herdsmen publicly told the people in the town everything that had happened.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

they told everything (English Standard Version)
-or-
they recounted all of this

8:33c

including the account of the demon-possessed men: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as including is a common Greek conjunction. It usually means “and,” “even,” or “also.” There are several ways to interpret this word in this context:

(1) It means and. According to this interpretation, the herdsmen gave a report about their pigs, and they also gave a report about the demon-possessed men. For example:

they told about all of this and what had happened to the men who had demons (New Century Version)

(Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, King James Version)

(2) It means including. According to this interpretation, the herdsmen gave a report about everything that happened, and this report included what happened to the demon-possessed men. For example:

reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men (New International Version)

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, New American Standard Bible, New Jerusalem Bible)

(3) It means especially. According to this interpretation, the main emphasis of the herdsmen’s report was about what happened to the demon-possessed men, but they also reported about everything else. For example:

told everything, especially what had happened to the two men (Contemporary English Version)

(English Standard Version, God’s Word, Contemporary English Version)

(4) It introduces an explanation of 8:33b. According to this interpretation, the herdsmen’s report was only about what happened to the demon-possessed men. So 8:33b and 8:33c can be combined. For example:

and told everything that had happened to the demon-possessed men (NET Bible)

(NET Bible, New Revised Standard Version, New Living Translation (2004))

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). The herdsmen were certainly upset when their pigs died. It is likely that a main part of their report was about the loss of their pigs.

Here are some other ways to translate 8:33a–c:

aThe herdsmen fled band went into town where they told about everything that happened ⌊to their pigs⌋ cand ⌊also⌋ what happened to the demon-possessed men.

General Comment on 8:33b–c

The event of the demon-possessed men occurred before the event with the pigs. In some languages it is more natural to have the phrase “demon-possessed men” first. For example:

went into town and told the whole story about what happened to the demon-possessed men and the pigs

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