Mark 5:4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

◄ Mark 5:4 ►

Parallel Verses

New International Version
For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

English Standard Version
for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him.

New American Standard Bible
because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him.

King James Bible
Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
because he often had been bound with shackles and chains, but had snapped off the chains and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

International Standard Version
He had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but had snapped the chains apart and broken the shackles in pieces. No one could tame him.

American Standard Version
because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been rent asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: and no man had strength to tame him.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For having been often bound with fetters and chains, he had burst the chains, and broken the fetters in pieces, and no one could tame him.

Darby Bible Translation
because he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been torn asunder by him, and the fetters were shattered; and no one was able to subdue him.

Young's Literal Translation
because that he many times with fetters and chains had been bound, and pulled in pieces by him had been the chains, and the fetters broken in pieces, and none was able to tame him,

Cross References

Psalm 105:18
Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron:

Mark 5:3
Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:

Mark 5:5
And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

Luke 8:29
(For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he broke the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.)

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Afterwards Apart Asunder Bands Bound Broken Chained Chains Feet Fetters Foot Fragments Frequently Hand Iron Irons Lay Nobody Often Parted Pieces Plucked Prisoned Quiet Securely Shattered Strength Strong Tame Time Times Tore Torn Wrenched

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Commentaries

Matthew Henry's Commentary

5:1-20 Some openly wilful sinners are like this madman. The commands of the law are as chains and fetters, to restrain sinners from their wicked courses; but they break those bands in sunder; and it is an evidence of the power of the devil in them. A legion of soldiers consisted of six thousand men, or more. What multitudes of fallen spirits there must be, and all enemies to God and man, when here was a legion in one poor wretched creature! Many there are that rise up against us. We are not a match for our spiritual enemies, in our own strength; but in the Lord, and in the power of his might, we shall be able to stand against them, though there are legions of them. When the vilest transgressor is delivered by the power of Jesus from the bondage of Satan, he will gladly sit at the feet of his Deliverer, and hear his word, who delivers the wretched slaves of Satan, and numbers them among his saints and servants. When the people found that their swine were lost, they had a dislike to Christ. Long-suffering and mercy may be seen, even in the corrections by which men lose their property while their lives are saved, and warning given them to seek the salvation of their souls. The man joyfully proclaimed what great things Jesus had done for him. All men marvelled, but few followed him. Many who cannot but wonder at the works of Christ, yet do not, as they ought, wonder after him.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

4. Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, &c.—Luke says (Lu 8:29) that "oftentimes it [the unclean spirit] had caught him"; and after mentioning how they had vainly tried to bind him with chains and fetters, because, "he brake the bands," he adds, "and was driven of the devil [demon] into the wilderness." The dark tyrant-power by which he was held clothed him with superhuman strength and made him scorn restraint. Matthew (Mt 8:28) says he was "exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way." He was the terror of the whole locality.