What Does Luke 8:30 Mean in the King James?
And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Here, a name reveals the nature of the presence within: one man answers as a multitude.
THE MEANING
The question reaches beneath a label to the nature presently speaking through him. He answers, “Legion,” because many devils have entered him: one person speaks as a collective occupying presence. The verse holds the man and what inhabits him together in a single sentence.
THE ROOT
ὄνομά
onoma
GROWS FROM
ὀνομ-
onom-
A name, designation, or reputation.
The question can sound like a request for a personal label, but the answer describes what occupies him. “Legion” gathers the many into one spoken name, exposing the presence shaping his speech.
ALSO GROWS
onomazō: to name or call by name
ὀνομάζω
The act of naming gives spoken form to the nature this answer discloses.
onomastos: named or renowned
ὀνομαστός
A name can carry what someone is known for; here, it carries the collective presence within the man.
εἰσῆλθεν
eisēlthen
GROWS FROM
εἰσέρχομαι
eiserchomai
To come into; to enter.
“entered” in this verse is eisēlthen. The verb expresses inward movement: the many have crossed into the man, not merely gathered around him. Its related compounds keep the same movement seed while changing direction or relation.
ALSO GROWS
exerchomai: to go out or exit
ἐξέρχομαι
The outward movement makes the inward direction of “entered” easier to see.
proserchomai: to come near or approach
προσέρχομαι
This related form shows the same movement toward a person without the inward entry described here.
THE PATTERN
The presence affecting a person becomes visible in the state that presence produces.
And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.THE THREAD
And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.Mark repeats the question about the man’s name and gives the same answer, then makes its plurality explicit: “we are many.” The name compresses the presence occupying him into one collective identity.
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