Mk 5:3a ... Who had a house down in the tombs ...

The text says katoikesis (kata down, oikos house). It seems the man didn't have a favorite crypt and that he also didn't like his House in the City.

The word "tombs" (tois mnay'-mah-sin) is plural for geometry purposes.

Mk 5:3b ... and not even with a chain any longer, nobody was able to bind him.

As we can see from the diagram, the verse makes a pun with the words "Chain no-longer" (hal'-oo-see ook-et'-ee), meaning "not long enough," because as we will see in the next verse, chains and shackles of the right length and number can secure this crazy man.

According to Dennis MacDonald, the word "nodody" (oo-dice') is an ancient literary pun because it refers to the pseudonym Odysseus gave himself when the cyclopes Polyphemus asked his name in the The Odyssey.

Mk 5:02 < Verse > Mk 5:04