What Does Luke 8:33 Mean in the King James?
Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked.
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
What leaves the man does not disappear: the same force enters the herd and carries it into the lake.
THE MEANING
The scene holds release and destruction together: what leaves the man enters the herd, which rushes into the lake and dies. Leaving one body does not erase the destructive force; here its direction changes, and the harm becomes visible in the herd.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that once what torments someone leaves, the danger is over.
THE ROOT
ἐξῆλθον
exēlthon
GROWS FROM
ἔρχομαι
erchomai
to come or go
“went out / entered” in this verse is exēlthon. Both movements are built from the same verb: ἐξῆλθον (exēlthon, “went out”) marks movement outward, while εἰσῆλθον (eisēlthon, “entered”) marks movement inward. The shared verb makes the shift plain: the force changes where it acts, rather than simply vanishing.
ALSO GROWS
exerchomai: to go out, depart
ἐξέρχομαι
It names the movement away from the man.
eiserchomai: to go in, enter
εἰσέρχομαι
It names the movement into the herd, completing the transfer.
ἀπεπνίγη
apepnigē
GROWS FROM
πνίγω
pnigō
to choke, strangle, or suffocate
The verb can describe choking that ends in drowning, joining the action in the lake to the image of breath cut off. Luke uses the same root family for seeds crowded out by thorns and hearers choked by life’s cares, so the word holds literal suffocation and life hemmed in by pressure together.
ALSO GROWS
apopnigō: to choke off, suffocate, drown
ἀποπνίγω
This form describes the herd’s choking in the lake.
sympnigō: to choke, press in around
συμπνίγω
Luke uses this related form for thorns choking seed and cares choking what has been heard.
THE PATTERN
A living thing can be choked out when surrounding forces leave it no room to continue.
And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.THE THREAD
And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.Luke uses συμπνίγω (sympnigō, “choke, press in around”), from the same root as ἀπεπνίγη (apepnigē, “was choked”), for cares choking what has been heard. The shared root holds the herd’s physical drowning beside the inward image of life crowded by what surrounds it.
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