whenever (implying hypothesis or more or less uncertain… · conjunction
he putteth forth
ἐκβάλῃ,ekbalē
G1544
to eject (literally or figuratively) · verb — second aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular
his own
ἴδιαidia
G2398
pertaining to self · adjective — accusative plural neuter
sheep
πρόβαταprobata
G4263
something that walks forward (a quadruped) · noun — nominative plural neuter
he
αὐτῶνautōn
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural neuter
goeth
πορεύεται,poreuetai
G4198
to traverse · verb — present middle or passive deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
before them
ἔμπροσθενemprosthen
G1715
in front of (in place (literally or figuratively) or ti… · preposition
and
καίkaí
G2532
and
the sheep
πρόβατονpróbaton
G4263
something that walks forward (a quadruped)
follow
ἀκολουθεῖ,akolouthei
G190
properly · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
him
αὐτῷautō
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular masculine
for
ὅτιhoti
G3754
demonstrative · conjunction
they know
εἴδωeídō
G1492
used only in certain past tenses
his
αὐτοῦ.autou
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
voice
φωνὴνphōnēn
G5456
a tone (articulate · noun — accusative singular feminine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Deuteronomy 1:30 The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;
John 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and o…
John 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
John 10:8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
John 18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cau…
1 Peter 2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on John 10:1-18
It is not certain whether this discourse was at the feast of dedication in the winter (spoken of Joh 10:22), which may be taken as the date, not only of what follows, but of what goes before (that which countenances this is, that Christ, in his discourse there, carries on the metaphor of the sheep, Joh 10:26, Joh 10:27, whence it seems that that discourse and this were at the same time); or whether this was a continuation of his parley with the Pharisees, in the close of the foregoing chapter. The Pharisees supported themselves in their opposition to Christ with this principle, that they were the pastors of the church, and that Jesus, having no commission from them, was an intruder and an im…
To him the porter openeth--that is, right of free access is given, by order of Him to whom the sheep belong; for it is better not to give the allusion a more specific interpretation [CALVIN, MEYER, LUTHARDT].
and the sheep hear his voice--This and all that follows, though it admits of important application to every faithful shepherd of God's flock, is in its direct and highest sense true only of "the great Shepherd of the sheep," who in the first five verses seems plainly, under the simple character of a true shepherd, to be drawing His own portrait [LAMPE, STIER, &c.].
Adam Clarke on John 10:4
He goeth before them - A sixth mark of a true pastor is, he gives them a good example: he not only preaches, but he lives, the truth of the Gospel; he enters into the depths of the salvation of God; and, having thus explored the path, he knows how to lead those who are entrusted to his care into the fullness of the blessings of the Gospel of peace. He who does not endeavor to realize in his own soul the truths which he preaches to others will soon be as salt without its savor; his preaching cannot be accompanied with that unction which alone can make it acceptable and profitable to those whose hearts are right with God. The minister who is in this state of salvation the sheep, genuine Christ…
(Hom. lix. 2) Shepherds always go behind their sheep; but He, on the contrary, goes before, to show that He would lead all to the truth.
And the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of strangers. (Tr. xlv. 10. ct seq.) But here is a difficulty. Sometimes they who are not sheep hear Christ's voice; for Judas heard, who was a wolf. And sometimes the sheep hear Him not; for they who crucified Christ heard not; yet some of them were His sheep. You will say, While they did not hear, they were not sheep; the voice, when they heard it, changed them from wolves to sheep. Still I am disturbed by the Lord's rebuke to the shepherds in Ezekiel, Neither have ye brought again that which strayed. (Ezek. 34:4) He calls it a stray sheep, but yet a sheep all the while; though, if it strayed, it could not have heard the voice of the Shepherd, but the voice of a stranger. What I say then is this; The Lord knoweth them that are His. (2 Tim. 2:19) He knoweth the foreknown, he knoweth the predestinated. They are the sheep: for a time they know not themselves, but the Shepherd knows them; for many sheep are without the fold, many wolves within. He speaks then of the predestinated. And now the difficulty is solved. The sheep do hear the Shepherd's voice, and they only. When is that? It is when that voice saith, He that endureth to the end shall be saved. (Mat. 10:32) This speech His own hear, the alien hear not.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Parable — (Gr. parabole), a placing beside; a comparison; equivalent to the Heb. mashal, a similitude. In the Old Testament this is used to denote (1) a proverb (1 Sam. 10:12; 24:13; 2 Chr. 7:20), (2) a…
Sheep — Are of different varieties. Probably the flocks of Abraham and Isaac were of the wild species found still in the mountain regions of Persia and Kurdistan. After the Exodus, and as a result of…
Shepherd — A word naturally of frequent occurence in Scripture. Sometimes the word “pastor” is used instead (Jer. 2:8; 3:15; 10:21; 12:10; 17:16). This word is used figuratively to represent the relation of…
Character · .Attentive to Christ’s voice — .Attentive to Christ’s voice
Character Of Saints · Attentive to Christ’s voice — Attentive to Christ’s voice
Christ, The Shepherd · His sheep: He guides — His sheep: He guides
Parables · Good Shepherd — Good Shepherd
Saints, Compared To · Sheep — Sheep
Sheep · .Of the righteous — .Of the righteous
Shepherd · Knows each one of his flock by name — Knows each one of his flock by name
Titles And Names Of Saints · Sheep of Christ — Sheep of Christ
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on John 10:4
And when he putteth forth his own sheep,.... The Ethiopic version reads, "when he leads them all out"; in order to bring them into proper pastures:
he goeth before them; in allusion to the eastern shepherds, who when they put out their flocks, did not, as ours do, drive them before them, and follow after them, at least not always, but went before them: so Christ, the great shepherd, goes before his flock, not only to provide for them, but by way of example to them; in many instances he is an ensample to the flock, as under shepherds, according to the measure of grace received, should be: he has left them an example in many respects, that they should tread in his steps:
and the sheep follow…
John 10:1-6
1. Verily, verily, I say to you, He who entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth by another way, is a thief and a robber. 2. But he who entereth by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3. To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 4. And having put out his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him; for they know his voice. 5. But they will not follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of strangers. 6. Jesus spoke this parable to them; but they did not understand what those things were which he spoke to them.
1. Verily, verily, I say to you.…
