{Hearing what great things he did} (akouontes hosa poiei).
Masculine plural present participle, though pl(8874)hos is neuter
singular (construction according to sense in both number and
gender). This crowd by the sea came from Galilee, Judea,
Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond Jordan (Decapolis and Perea), Tyre and
Sidon, Phoenicia, North, South, East, and Northwest, even from
Idumea (mentioned here alone in the N.T.) won by John Hyrcanus to
Palestine. "In our Lord's time Idumea was practically a part of
Judea with a Jewish circumcised population" (George Adam Smith).
Many of these were probably Gentiles (Phoenicia and Decapolis)
and may have known only the Greek language. The fame of Jesus had
spread through all the regions round about. There was a jam as
the crowds came to Jesus by the Sea of Galilee.