Matthew 8:31 (DRB)

Passage

And the devils besought him, saying: If thou cast us out hence, send us into the herd of swine.

Nearby Context

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

Matthew 8:30 And there was, not far from them, a herd of many swine feeding.

Matthew 8:31 And the devils besought him, saying: If thou cast us out hence, send us into the herd of swine.

Matthew 8:32 And he said to them: Go. But they going out went into the swine, and behold the whole herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea: and they perished in the waters.

Matthew 8:33 And they that kept them fled: and coming into the city, told every thing, and concerning them that had been possessed by the devils.

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 30's "And there was not far from them..." into verse 32's "And he said to them Go But...", so "devils" 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 "devils" and "besought" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.