Matthew 8:29 (WEB)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

Matthew 8:27 The men marveled, saying, “What kind of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Matthew 8:28 When he came to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, two people possessed by demons met him there, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that nobody could pass that way.

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

Matthew 8:30 Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding far away from them.

Matthew 8:31 The demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of pigs.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "behold", "cried", "saying", "jesus", "come", "here", "torment", and "before". 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 "When he came to the other side..." 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.