And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep.
Parallel translations
- WEB They begged him that he would not command them to go into the abyss.
- BSB And the demons kept begging Jesus not to order them to go into the Abyss.
- NKJV And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss.
- NASB And they were begging Him not to command them to go away into the abyss.
- NLT The demons kept begging Jesus not to send them into the bottomless pit.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The demons beg Jesus not to send them into the abyss. They acknowledge His power to consign them to final judgment.
Overview
The demons plead against being cast into the abyss, the place of restraint and judgment for evil spirits. Their request reveals their fear and their knowledge of coming doom. It confirms that Jesus holds authority over their eternal fate.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Matt 25:41Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
- Rev 20:14–15And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
- Rev 17:8The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
- Luke 8:28When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.
- Rev 19:20And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
- Rev 11:7And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
- Job 1:11But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
- Phil 2:10–11That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
- Rev 9:1–2And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
- Job 2:5But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
- Rev 20:1–3And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
- Rev 9:11And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 8:31 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.