What Does Matthew 8:31 Mean?
And the demons pleaded with him, saying, If you throw us out, send us into the herd of swine.
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
So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.THE KEY
The ones being cast out still ask permission to choose where they go.
THE MEANING
The destructive powers speak as petitioners: they anticipate being cast out, then ask permission to enter the herd. Their words show that even the destination they propose lies within a boundary set by the one they address.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a destructive force can simply choose its own course: here, it must ask permission.
THE ROOT
ἐπίτρεψον
epitrepson
GROWS FROM
τρέπω (trepō), in the compound ἐπιτρέπω
To turn or hand over; in ἐπιτρέπω, to entrust or permit.
“suffer us to” in this verse is epitrepson. The request is for permission, not merely for Jesus to endure their departure. The Greek word family also reaches toward entrusting authority, so even the destination they propose depends on authority beyond their own.
ALSO GROWS
epitropē: Permission or commission
ἐπιτροπή
The shared word family links allowance with the granting of authority, sharpening the sense that their movement is subject to another.
epitropos: Steward or guardian entrusted with a charge
ἐπίτροπος
This related word names someone given authority over what is entrusted to them, echoing the boundary around the spirits’ agency.
παρεκάλεσαν
parekalesan
GROWS FROM
καλέω (kaleō), in παρακαλέω
To call; with παρά (para, alongside or near), παρακαλέω carries the sense of appealing or urging.
“pleaded” in this verse is parekalesan. The spirits do not simply speak; they make an appeal. The same word family can describe urging and consolation, showing how a call toward another can become either a request or a source of comfort, depending on the relation.
ALSO GROWS
paraklēsis: Appeal, encouragement, or consolation
παράκλησις
It shares the appeal-and-encouragement range of the word used for their request.
paraklētos: Advocate, helper, or comforter
παράκλητος
This related word shows the same call-near family extending from appeal into help and comfort.
THE PATTERN
Hostile spiritual forces appear as bounded agents whose actions answer to a higher authority.
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.And all were stirred, so that they asked among themselves, saying, "What is this? What new teaching is this? With authority he commands even the unclean breaths, and they hear and respond to him."And he grips the dragon, that ancient serpent, the Slanderer, and the Adversary, and binds him for a thousand years.THE THREAD
Who comforts us in all our pressure, so that we are able to comfort those in every pressure, through the same comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.The Greek verb behind “besought” belongs to the same word family as the repeated “comforteth” and “comfort” here. In Matthew, it carries an appeal for permission; here, that call toward another becomes consolation.
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