John 10:11
New International Version
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

New Living Translation
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.

English Standard Version
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Berean Standard Bible
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

Berean Literal Bible
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

King James Bible
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

New King James Version
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

New American Standard Bible
“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

NASB 1995
“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

NASB 1977
“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

Legacy Standard Bible
“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

Amplified Bible
I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His [own] life for the sheep.

Christian Standard Bible
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

American Standard Version
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
“I AM THE LIVING GOD, The Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for his flock.”

Contemporary English Version
I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd gives up his life for his sheep.

Douay-Rheims Bible
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep.

English Revised Version
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.

Good News Translation
"I am the good shepherd, who is willing to die for the sheep.

International Standard Version
"I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Literal Standard Version
I AM the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays His life down for the sheep;

Majority Standard Bible
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

New American Bible
I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

NET Bible
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

New Revised Standard Version
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

New Heart English Bible
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Webster's Bible Translation
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

Weymouth New Testament
"I am the Good Shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his very life for the sheep.

World English Bible
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Young's Literal Translation
'I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd his life layeth down for the sheep;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Jesus the Good Shepherd
10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness. 11I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock.…

Cross References
Psalm 23:1
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Isaiah 40:11
He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.

Ezekiel 34:2
"Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: 'Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who only feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed their flock?

Ezekiel 34:11
For this is what the Lord GOD says: 'Behold, I Myself will search for My flock and seek them out.

Ezekiel 34:23
I will appoint over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them. He will feed them and be their shepherd.

John 10:2
But the one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

John 10:14
I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me,


Treasury of Scripture

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.

the good.

John 10:14
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

Psalm 23:1
A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psalm 80:1
To the chief Musician upon ShoshannimEduth, A Psalm of Asaph. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.

giveth.

Genesis 31:39,40
That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night…

1 Samuel 17:34,35
And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: …

2 Samuel 24:17
And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house.

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Gives Good Keeper Lays Sheep Shepherd
John 10
1. Jesus is the door, and the good shepherd.
19. Diverse opinions of him.
23. He proves by his works that he is Jesus the Son of God;
31. escapes the Jews;
39. and goes again beyond Jordan, where many believe on him.














(11) I am the good shepherd.--The central point of the allegory has now passed from the "Door," through the last verse as the connecting-link, to the "Good Shepherd." If we think that the whole discourse was suggested by a scene actually occurring (comp. Note on John 10:1), then the prominence of an actual shepherd passing before them would suggest the turn which it now takes.

The word "good" means that which is fair, and is in a physical sense that which is in its own nature excellent, and in a moral sense that which is beautiful and noble. St. John uses the word only in John 2:10, of the "good wine," and in this chapter here and in John 10:14; John 10:32-33. (Comp. Note on Luke 8:15.) The passage of the Old Testament referred to above has prepared our minds for this thought of Christ, especially Psalms 23; Isaiah 40:11; Ezekiel 34:11-16; Ezekiel 34:23; Ezekiel 37:24. He is the Shepherd who is ideally good, fulfilling every thought of guidance, support, self-sacrifice that had ever gathered round the shepherd's name. No image of Christ has so deeply impressed itself upon the mind of the Church as this has. We find it in the earliest Christian literature, as in Tertullian (Works, vol. i., p. 371, in Ante-Nicene Library), or Clement of Alexandria (Works, vol. i., pp. 149, 462, A.N. Lib.). We find it in the very earliest efforts of Christian art, in painting, embroidery, and even statuary. (See Kugler's Handbook, Italian Schools, Lady Eastlake's Trans., 4th Ed., pp. 5 and 6.) It comes to us naturally in our hymns and prayers. The pastoral staff is the fit emblem of the Bishop's work, and the Pastor is the name by which the humble way-side flock thinks of him who in Christ's name is appointed to be their guide. . . .

Verses 11-21. -

(3) The functions and responsibilities of the veritable Shepherd, and the relation of the Shepherd to the flock. Verse 11. - I am the good Shepherd. The word here rendered "good" means more than the "true" (ἀληθής) or the" veritable" (ἀληθινός); more than ἀγαθός, good, in the sense of being morally excellent and inwardly fulfilling God's purpose that the sheep should be shepherded. The word καλός suggests a "goodness" that is conspicuous, that shows and approves itself to the experience and observation of all. Thus the Lord fills up the meaning of the first parable by emphasizing another element in it. There may be many shepherds worthy of the name, but he alone justifies the designation (cf. Psalm 23; Isaiah 40:11; Isaiah 53; Ezekiel 34; Jeremiah 23.). This imagery has inwrought itself into Christian literature and art. The earliest representations of Christ in the catacombs depict him as "the good Shepherd" (Tertullian, 'De Fuga.,' c. 11; Hermas, 'Sire.,' 6:2); the earliest hymns and latest minstrelsy of the Church dwell fondly on the image which portrays his individual watchfulness, his tender care, his self-sacrificing love. The good Shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep; not only does his work with his life in his hand, but he deliberately lays down his life and consciously divests himself of his life, and is doing it now. The Shepherd dies that the sheep may live (cf. 1 John 3:16; John 15:13). Elsewhere Jesus says, "The Son of man gives his life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). The thought is very grand, and is a strange addition to the claim to be the Shepherd of Israel, and gives intense pathos to the language of our Lord to Simon Peter (John 21:6), "Shepherd my sheep." The further development of the parable shows that in the metaphor he regards his death as no disastrous termination of the Shepherd's function, but as an event in his career. Hence it is not just of Reuse ('Theol. Chretien,' 2.) to contend that our Lord does not here suggest a vicarious or propitiatory death on his part. This is a veritable death, which secures the life of the sheep, and does not arrest the Shepherd's care (see vers. 17, 18).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
I
Ἐγώ (Egō)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

am
εἰμι (eimi)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

the
(ho)
Article - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

good
καλός (kalos)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2570: Properly, beautiful, but chiefly good, i.e. Valuable or virtuous.

shepherd.
ποιμὴν (poimēn)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 4166: A shepherd; hence met: of the feeder, protector, and ruler of a flock of men. Of uncertain affinity; a shepherd.

The
(ho)
Article - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

good
καλὸς (kalos)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2570: Properly, beautiful, but chiefly good, i.e. Valuable or virtuous.

shepherd
ποιμὴν (poimēn)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 4166: A shepherd; hence met: of the feeder, protector, and ruler of a flock of men. Of uncertain affinity; a shepherd.

lays down
τίθησιν (tithēsin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 5087: To put, place, lay, set, fix, establish. A prolonged form of a primary theo to place.

His
αὐτοῦ (autou)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

life
ψυχὴν (psychēn)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 5590: From psucho; breath, i.e. spirit, abstractly or concretely.

for
ὑπὲρ (hyper)
Preposition
Strong's 5228: Gen: in behalf of; acc: above.

the
τῶν (tōn)
Article - Genitive Neuter Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

sheep.
προβάτων (probatōn)
Noun - Genitive Neuter Plural
Strong's 4263: A sheep. Probably neuter of a presumed derivative of probaino; something that walks forward, i.e., a sheep.


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