Matthew 8:31 (DBY)

Passage

and the demons besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine.

Nearby Context

Matthew 8:29 And behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Son of God? hast thou come here before the time to torment us?

Matthew 8:30 Now there was, a great way off from them, a herd of many swine feeding;

Matthew 8:31 and the demons besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine.

Matthew 8:32 And he said to them, Go. And they, going out, departed into the herd of swine; and lo, the whole herd [of swine] rushed down the steep slope into the sea, and died in the waters.

Matthew 8:33 But they that fed them fled, and went away into the city and related everything, and what had happened as to those possessed by demons.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "demons", "besought", "saying", "thou", "cast", "send", "away", and "herd". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "demons" and "besought", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 30's "Now there was a great way off..." into verse 32's "And he said to them Go And...", so "demons" and "besought" belong inside that flow. In Matthew context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "demons" and "besought" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.