Matthew 8:29 (LSB)

Passage

And behold, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with You, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”

Nearby Context

Matthew 8:27 And the men marveled, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Matthew 8:28 And when He came to the other side, into the region of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way.

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

Matthew 8:30 Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them.

Matthew 8:31 And the demons began to plead with Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "behold", "cried", "saying", "come", "here", "torment", "before", and "time". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "behold" and "cried", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 28's "And when He came to the other..." into verse 30's "Now there was a herd of many...", so "behold" and "cried" 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 "behold" and "cried" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.