What Does Luke 8:32 Mean?
Now there was a herd of many swine feeding there on the mountain, and they begged him to let them enter into the swine. And he allowed them.
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 there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them.THE KEY
The verse turns on permission: the spirits ask to enter the herd, and Jesus grants that entry.
THE MEANING
The spirits appeal for entry into the herd, and Jesus permits it. The animals remain plainly in view: this permission concerns living bodies, not an abstract boundary.
THE ROOT
ἐπέτρεψεν
epetrepsen
GROWS FROM
ΤΡΕΠ
trep
Turn; in the compound epitrepō, turn something over or entrust it, hence permit or allow.
“allowed” in this verse is epetrepsen. The KJV’s “suffer” here carries its older sense of “permit.” The Greek makes permission the hinge: the spirits request entry, and Jesus grants it.
ALSO GROWS
trepō: Turn, direct, or change direction.
τρέπω
This is the root’s basic movement; in the compound verb, turning something over can carry the sense of allowing it to another.
epitrepo: Permit, allow, or entrust.
ἐπιτρέπω
This is the verb used when Jesus grants the requested entry.
παρεκάλουν
parekaloun
GROWS FROM
ΚΑΛ
kal
Call; in parakaleō, the call becomes an appeal or urging.
“Besought” can sound like a distant, formal plea, while the Greek imperfect presents an ongoing appeal. The verse sets that continuing appeal beside Jesus’ decisive permission.
ALSO GROWS
kaleō: Call or invite.
καλέω
The appeal begins as a call directed toward Jesus.
paraklēsis: Appeal, entreaty, or encouragement.
παράκλησις
This related noun shows the same word family carrying the sense of an appeal.
THE PATTERN
A crossing of a boundary is shown as subject to permission and bounded by an authority beyond the one seeking entry.
And he said to another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.And the LORD said to the Adversary, Look, all that he has is in your hand; only toward him do not stretch out your hand. So the Adversary went out from the face of the LORD.Jesus answered, You would have no authority at all against me, unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you has a greater shortcoming.THE THREAD
And he said to another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.Luke 9:59 uses the same Greek verb, ἐπιτρέπω (epitrepo), translated “suffer” in “suffer me first.” There a person asks leave to depart; here the spirits ask leave to enter, revealing the same request-and-permission structure beneath two different scenes.
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