What Does Luke 8:37 Mean in the King James?
Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again.
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
Fear does not merely unsettle the crowd; it grips them so tightly that they ask the healer to leave.
THE MEANING
Fear can hold a whole community so tightly that distance feels safer than the presence that brings restoration. Here, the request becomes action: Jesus enters the boat and leaves when they ask.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that people always welcome the source of restoration dissolves here: the crowd sees a man restored and still asks Jesus to leave.
THE ROOT
συνείχοντο
syneichonto
GROWS FROM
συνέχω
To hold together, press, or constrain.
“taken” in this verse is syneichonto. The Greek says more than that the people feel afraid: fear is what holds and presses them. The same verb can describe Christ’s love constraining Paul, so this word holds fear-driven rejection and love-driven compulsion in the same field of meaning.
ALSO GROWS
syneichonto: They were held or constrained.
συνείχοντο
This is the form used here: great fear holds the crowd and shapes its request.
synechei: It constrains or holds.
συνέχει
In 2 Corinthians 5:14, this same verb describes Christ’s love holding Paul.
synechomenē: Held or pressed by.
συνεχομένη
In Luke 4:38, the same verb describes a woman held by a great fever, making the word’s sense of being gripped concrete.
THE PATTERN
Fear can make people seek distance from a presence they cannot bear to face.
And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.THE THREAD
For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:The word translated “taken” here is the same verb Paul uses for Christ’s love constraining him. The shared root reveals two forces that hold a person: fear that asks Jesus to leave, and love that presses Paul onward.
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