John 10:6
New International Version
Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

New Living Translation
Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant,

English Standard Version
This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Berean Standard Bible
Jesus spoke to them using this illustration, but they did not understand what He was telling them.

Berean Literal Bible
Jesus spoke to them this allegory, but they did not know what it was that He was saying to them.

King James Bible
This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

New King James Version
Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.

New American Standard Bible
Jesus told them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what the things which He was saying to them meant.

NASB 1995
This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.

NASB 1977
This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.

Legacy Standard Bible
This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.

Amplified Bible
Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what He was talking about.

Christian Standard Bible
Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Jesus gave them this illustration, but they did not understand what He was telling them.

American Standard Version
This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Yeshua spoke this allegory to them, but they did not know what he was speaking with them.

Contemporary English Version
Jesus told the people this story. But they did not understand what he was talking about.

Douay-Rheims Bible
This proverb Jesus spoke to them. But they understood not what he spoke to them.

English Revised Version
This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Jesus used this illustration as he talked to the people, but they didn't understand what he meant.

Good News Translation
Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what he meant.

International Standard Version
Jesus used this illustration with them, but they didn't understand what he was saying to them.

Literal Standard Version
Jesus spoke this allegory to them, and they did not know what the things were that He was speaking to them;

Majority Standard Bible
Jesus spoke to them using this illustration, but they did not understand what He was telling them.

New American Bible
Although Jesus used this figure of speech, they did not realize what he was trying to tell them.

NET Bible
Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

New Revised Standard Version
Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

New Heart English Bible
Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

Webster's Bible Translation
This parable spoke Jesus to them: but they understood not what things they were which he spoke to them.

Weymouth New Testament
Jesus spoke to them in this figurative language, but they did not understand what He meant.

World English Bible
Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they didn’t understand what he was telling them.

Young's Literal Translation
This similitude spake Jesus to them, and they knew not what the things were that he was speaking to them;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Jesus the Good Shepherd
5But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will flee from him because they do not recognize his voice.” 6 Jesus spoke to them using this illustration, but they did not understand what He was telling them. 7So He said to them again, “Truly, truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.…

Cross References
Matthew 13:34
Jesus spoke all these things to the crowds in parables. He did not tell them anything without using a parable.

Mark 4:34
He did not tell them anything without using a parable. But privately He explained everything to His own disciples.

John 16:25
I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you this way, but will tell you plainly about the Father.

John 16:29
His disciples said, "See, now You are speaking plainly and without figures of speech.

2 Peter 2:22
Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."


Treasury of Scripture

This parable spoke Jesus to them: but they understood not what things they were which he spoke to them.

they understood not.

John 6:52,60
The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? …

John 7:36
What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come?

John 8:27,43
They understood not that he spake to them of the Father…

Jump to Previous
Clear Figurative Figure Form Jesus Language Meant Parable Similitude Speaking Speech Story Teaching Telling Understand Understood Used
Jump to Next
Clear Figurative Figure Form Jesus Language Meant Parable Similitude Speaking Speech Story Teaching Telling Understand Understood Used
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.














(6) This parable spake Jesus unto them.--Better, this allegory spake Jesus unto them. The word rendered "parable" is the wider word (????????, paroimia) which includes every kind of figurative and proverbial teaching, every kind of speech, as the etymology reminds us, which departs from the usual course (?????, oimos). St. John nowhere uses the word "parable." The word paroimia occurs again in John 16:25; John 16:29, and once besides in the New Testament; this is in 2Peter 2:22 ("according to the true proverb"), in a quotation from the Greek version of Proverbs 26:11, where the Hebrew word is m?shal. (Comp. Note on Matthew 13:3, and Trench On the Parables, pp. 8-10.) The discourse of this chapter differs from the true parable, which is a story in which the outer facts are kept wholly distinct from the ideal truths that are to be taught; whereas here the form and the idea interpenetrate each other at every point. It is so in the other so-called "parable" in this Gospel (John 15). Strictly speaking, neither the "Good Shepherd" nor the "True Vine" is a parable. Both are "allegories," or rather, they are, as there is every reason to think, allegorical interpretations of actual events in the material world, which are thus made the vehicle of spiritual truths. It will follow from this that the interpretation of every point in the history of the material facts (e.g., "the porter" in John 10:3) is not always to be pressed. In the parable the story is made to express the spiritual truth, and with greater or lesser fulness every point in it may have its spiritual counterpart. The outer facts which are allegorised exist independently of the spiritual truth. The fact that they express it at some central points is all that is necessary for the allegory, and greater caution should attend the use of any addition to the interpretation which is given. . . . Verse 6. - This parable spake Jesus unto them. The word παροιμία occurs only in this place and in John 16:25-29; 2 Peter 2:22. It is the LXX. rendering of מָשָׁל proverb, in Proverbs 1:1, a similitude or didactic saying. The Greek word means any speech (ethos) deviating (παρὰ) from the common way (Lange). It may deviate by its sententious or parabolical form, which conceals under a closed metaphor a variety of meanings. But they, the Pharisees, who were confident of their own position, and gloried in their influence over men, and whose moral nature was steeled and armed to resist even a possible reference to themselves as "thieves," or "robbers," or "aliens," and who would not admit any of Christ's claims to their own disparagement, understood not what things they were which he was saying to them. The blind man had heard Ms voice, obeyed, found healing, advanced step by step from a bare knowledge of "a man Jesus" to a confession of him as one empowered by God; to a belief that he was a "Prophet," able to relax Mosaic Law; and finally to a ready acknowledgment that he was the Son of God. The Pharisees were conscious of neither need, nor blindness, nor desire of salvation, nor of the Shepherd's care or grace. They will not go to him for life. They can make nothing of his enigmatic words. They take counsel against him. Their misconception contrasts strongly with the susceptibility of the broken-hearted penitents. So far the parable or proverb corresponds with the parables of the kingdom in the synoptic Gospels, and is open to many interpretations.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Jesus
Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2424: Of Hebrew origin; Jesus, the name of our Lord and two other Israelites.

spoke
εἶπεν (eipen)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2036: Answer, bid, bring word, command. A primary verb; to speak or say.

to them [using]
αὐτοῖς (autois)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
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.

this
Ταύτην (Tautēn)
Demonstrative Pronoun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3778: This; he, she, it.

illustration,
παροιμίαν (paroimian)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3942: A cryptic saying, an allegory; a proverb, figurative discourse.

but
δὲ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

they
ἐκεῖνοι (ekeinoi)
Demonstrative Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 1565: That, that one there, yonder. From ekei; that one (neuter) thing); often intensified by the article prefixed.

{did} not
οὐκ (ouk)
Adverb
Strong's 3756: No, not. Also ouk, and ouch a primary word; the absolute negative adverb; no or not.

understand
ἔγνωσαν (egnōsan)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 1097: A prolonged form of a primary verb; to 'know' in a great variety of applications and with many implications.

what
τίνα (tina)
Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun - Nominative Neuter Plural
Strong's 5101: Who, which, what, why. Probably emphatic of tis; an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what.

He was telling
ἐλάλει (elalei)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2980: A prolonged form of an otherwise obsolete verb; to talk, i.e. Utter words.

them.
αὐτοῖς (autois)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
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.


Links
John 10:6 NIV
John 10:6 NLT
John 10:6 ESV
John 10:6 NASB
John 10:6 KJV

John 10:6 BibleApps.com
John 10:6 Biblia Paralela
John 10:6 Chinese Bible
John 10:6 French Bible
John 10:6 Catholic Bible

NT Gospels: John 10:6 Jesus spoke this parable to them (Jhn Jo Jn)
John 10:5
Top of Page
Top of Page