Mark 5:14 describes the reaction of the herdsmen who had watched Jesus cast demons out of a man and into a herd of pigs. Rather than rejoicing, they ran off and spread the news throughout the town and the surrounding countryside, which prompted a crowd to come and see for themselves. The verse is narrated by Mark, the Gospel writer, and speaks about the men who tended the animals and the people who later gathered in response to their report.
Those who fed them fled, and told it in the city and in the country. The people came to see what it was that had happened.
Mark 5:14 (WEB)
What Mark 5:14 Means
The phrase “those who fed them” refers to the herdsmen, the men responsible for the pigs on the hillside. When the herd rushed into the lake, these workers lost their livelihood in a single moment, so their fleeing makes sense as the instinct of people who have just seen something frightening and costly. “Fled” describes their hurry to get away, and “told it in the city and in the country” shows that they carried their account across the whole region. They were reporting what had happened, not yet interpreting it.
The second sentence of the verse, “the people came to see what it was that had happened,” shows curiosity mixed with unease. The verse does not promise that the crowd will respond with faith or joy, and it does not say the herdsmen understood the miracle. It simply records a chain of events: a report spreads, and people go out to look. Reading the verse as a neat lesson about evangelism misses its plain purpose, which is to explain why the scene that follows is full of crowds, witnesses, and mixed reactions.
The Context of Mark 5:14
The Gospel of Mark is traditionally attributed to John Mark, a companion of Peter, and it was likely written for a readership in the Roman world who needed a clear, fast-moving account of Jesus’s ministry. Mark tends to move quickly from one event to the next, and this episode is part of a longer scene in which Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee into Gentile territory and meets a man controlled by many demons. The herd of pigs, an animal considered unclean in Jewish law, places the story in a setting that the original hearers would have noticed.
Verse 14 sits between the drowning of the herd in verse 13 and the arrival of the crowd and the healed man in verse 15. The verses immediately before and after show that the witnesses’ report is what brings the townspeople out to Jesus, and that their first reaction is fear rather than gratitude. Read in this sequence, the verse highlights how news of the miracle travels through human channels and how those channels can lead people toward Jesus or away from him.
Key Phrases in Mark 5:14
Mark 5:15
They came to Jesus, and saw him who had been possessed by demons sitting, clothed, and in his right mind, even him who had the legion; and they were afraid.
(WEB)
This verse continues the scene by showing the crowd finding the man who had been possessed, now sitting, clothed, and in his right mind. It completes the story that Mark 5:14 sets in motion, revealing what the people discovered when they came to look.
Mark 5:19
He didn’t allow him, but said to him, “Go to your house, to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he had mercy on you.”
(WEB)
In this verse Jesus tells the healed man to go home and tell his friends what the Lord has done for him. It shows another form of reporting, one that brings good news rather than fear, and it contrasts with the herdsmen’s account.
A Short Prayer From Mark 5:14
Lord, you know how quickly we speak about things we have only half understood. Help me to slow down before I repeat a story, and to seek the truth before I pass it on. When I hear news that shakes me, give me the courage to go and see for myself, and the humility to admit what I do not yet know. Let my words carry honesty and care, so that others might come to know you more clearly through the way I speak. Amen.
