And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.
Parallel translations
- WEB Always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones.
- KJV And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
- BSB Night and day in the tombs and in the mountains he kept crying out and cutting himself with stones.
- NASB Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and cutting himself with stones.
- NLT Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.
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
Day and night the man cried out and cut himself with stones among the tombs and mountains.
Overview
His ceaseless crying and self-harm reveal the torment and self-destruction that demonic oppression brings. This is the misery sin and Satan inflict on those they enslave. Against this backdrop of despair, the restoring mercy of Jesus shines all the brighter.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- 1 Kgs 18:28They cried aloud, and cut themselves in their way with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them.
- Job 2:7–8So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head.
- John 8:44You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and its father.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 5:5 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.