What Does Luke 8:27 Mean?
And when he stepped onto the land, a certain man from the city met him, who had been held by demons for a long time, and wore no clothes, and did not stay in any house, but among the tombs.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs.THE KEY
The Greek word for “tombs” belongs to the family of remembrance, so the man’s dwelling is among places marked to remember the dead.
THE MEANING
You see a man under a long-standing demonic grip, without clothing or a house and living among tombs. His isolation is bodily and visible: he comes out from the city, yet the tombs are his place of dwelling.
THE ROOT
μνημεῖον
mnēmeion
GROWS FROM
μνημ-
mnēm-
Memory, remembrance; this word family includes a memorial or tomb.
“tombs” in this verse is mnēmeion. The word for a tomb is tied to remembering: it is a memorial place. The man’s dwelling is among places that make death the community’s visible memory.
ALSO GROWS
mnēmē: memory, remembrance
μνήμη
This related noun makes the remembrance within the tomb word visible.
mimnēskomai: to remember, call to mind
μιμνῄσκομαι
The related verb shows the same memory root at work as an act of recalling.
ἔμενεν
emenen
GROWS FROM
μένω
menō
To stay, remain, or continue.
“stay” in this verse is emenen. The verb marks staying, not just passing through: he does not remain in a house, and the tombs are his place of dwelling. This word family also gives Greek a word for a dwelling place, linking the question of where someone remains to where they can belong.
ALSO GROWS
monē: dwelling place, place to stay
μονή
John 14:2 uses this related noun for the dwelling places in the Father’s house.
emmenō: to remain, continue
ἐμμένω
This related verb keeps the root’s sense of sustained staying in view.
THE PATTERN
Scripture makes isolation visible in where a person lives and restoration visible in renewed company.
They settle among the graves and lodge in the guarded places, eating the flesh of swine, while the broth of spoiled things is in their vessels.God settles the lone ones into households; he brings out the bound ones in chains; but the ones who turn away dwell in a parched land.Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and whole in his mind, and they were afraid.THE THREAD
In my Father's house are many places to remain. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to make ready a place for you.Luke’s “abode” translates ἔμενεν (emenen, “was remaining”), from μένω (menō, “remain”); John’s “mansions” translates μοναί (monai, “dwelling places”), from the same word family. The shared root sets this man’s dwelling among tombs beside a promise of a prepared place to remain.
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