{The report of him went forth into all Syria} (ap(886c)then h(880a)ako(8820)autou eis hol(886e) t(886e) Syrian). Rumour (ako(885c)) carries things
almost like the wireless or radio. The Gentiles all over Syria to
the north heard of what was going on in Galilee. The result was
inevitable. Jesus had a moving hospital of patients from all over
Galilee and Syria. "{Those that were sick}" (	ous kak(9373)
echontas), literally "those who had it bad," cases that the
doctors could not cure. "{Holden with divers diseases and
torments}" (poikilais nosois kai basanois sunechomenous). "Held
together" or "compressed" is the idea of the participle. The same
word is used by Jesus in  Lu 12:50  and by Paul in  Php 1:23  and
of the crowd pressing on Jesus ( Lu 8:45 ). They brought these
difficult and chronic cases (present tense of the participle
here) to Jesus. Instead of "divers" say "various" (poikilais)
like fever, leprosy, blindness. The adjective means literally
many colored or variegated like flowers, paintings, jaundice,
etc. Some had "torments" (asanois). The word originally
(oriental origin) meant a touchstone, "Lydian stone" used for
testing gold because pure gold rubbed on it left a peculiar mark.
Then it was used for examination by torture. Sickness was often
regarded as "torture." These diseases are further described "in a
descending scale of violence" (McNeile) as "demoniacs, lunatics,
and paralytics" as Moffatt puts it, "demoniacs, epileptics,
paralytics" as Weymouth has it, (daimonizomenous kai
sel(886e)iazomenous kai paralutikous), people possessed by demons,
lunatics or "moon-struck" because the epileptic seizures
supposedly followed the phases of the moon (Bruce) as shown also
in  Mt 17:15 , paralytics (our very word). Our word "lunatic" is
from the Latin _luna_ (moon) and carries the same picture as the
Greek sel(886e)iazomai from sel(886e)(885c) (moon). These diseases are
called "torments."