Isaiah 40:11

40:11 Like a shepherd he tends his flock;

he gathers up the lambs with his arm;

he carries them close to his heart; ¹ 

he leads the ewes along.

Ezekiel 34:12

34:12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy, dark day. ² 

Ezekiel 37:24

37:24 “‘My servant David will be king over them; there will be one shepherd for all of them. They will follow ³  my regulations and carefully observe my statutes. ⁴ 

Micah 5:4

5:4 He will assume his post ⁵  and shepherd the people ⁶  by the Lord’s strength,

by the sovereign authority of the Lord his God. ⁷ 

They will live securely, ⁸  for at that time he will be honored ⁹ 

even in the distant regions of ¹⁰  the earth.

Zechariah 9:16

9:16 On that day the Lord their God will deliver them as the flock of his people, for they are the precious stones of a crown sparkling over his land.

Luke 12:32

12:32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is well pleased ¹¹  to give you the kingdom.

John 10:27

10:27 My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

Acts 20:28-29

20:28 Watch out for ¹²  yourselves and for all the flock of which ¹³  the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, ¹⁴  to shepherd the church of God ¹⁵  that he obtained ¹⁶  with the blood of his own Son. ¹⁷  20:29 I know that after I am gone ¹⁸  fierce wolves ¹⁹  will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

¹ tn Heb “in his bosom” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV), an expression which reflects closeness and protective care.

² sn The imagery may reflect the overthrow of the Israelites by the Babylonians in 587/6 b.c.

³ tn Heb “walk [in].”

⁴ tn Heb “and my statutes they will guard and they will do them.”

⁵ tn Heb “stand up”; NAB “stand firm”; NASB “will arise.”

⁶ tn The words “the people” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁷ tn Heb “by the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.”

⁸ tn The words “in peace” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Perhaps וְיָשָׁבוּ (vÿyashavu, “and they will live”) should be emended to וְשָׁבוּ (vÿshavu, “and they will return”).

⁹ tn Heb “be great.”

¹⁰ tn Or “to the ends of.”

¹¹ tn Or perhaps, “your Father chooses.”

¹² tn Or “Be on your guard for” (cf. v. 29). Paul completed his responsibility to the Ephesians with this warning.

¹³ tn Grk “in which.”

¹⁴ tn Or “guardians.” BDAG 379-80 s.v. ἐπίσκοπος 2 states, “The term was taken over in Christian communities in ref. to one who served as overseer or supervisor, with special interest in guarding the apostolic tradition…Ac 20:28.” This functional term describes the role of the elders (see v. 17). They were to guard and shepherd the congregation.

¹⁵ tc The reading “of God” (τοῦ θεοῦ, tou qeou) is found in א B 614 1175 1505 al vg sy; other witnesses have “of the Lord” (τοῦ κυρίου, tou kuriou) here (so Ì⁷⁴ A C* D E Ψ 33 1739 al co), while the majority of the later minuscule mss conflate these two into “of the Lord and God” (τοῦ κυρίου καὶ [τοῦ] θεοῦ, tou kuriou kai [tou] qeou). Although the evidence is evenly balanced between the first two readings, τοῦ θεοῦ is decidedly superior on internal grounds. The final prepositional phrase of this verse, διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ ἰδίου (dia tou {aimato" tou idiou), could be rendered “through his own blood” or “through the blood of his own.” In the latter translation, the object that “own” modifies must be supplied (see tn below for discussion). But this would not be entirely clear to scribes; those who supposed that ἰδίου modified αἵματος would be prone to alter “God” to “Lord” to avoid the inference that God had blood. In a similar way, later scribes would be prone to conflate the two titles, thereby affirming the deity (with the construction τοῦ κυρίου καὶ θεοῦ following the Granville Sharp rule and referring to a single person [see ExSyn 272, 276-77, 290]) and substitutionary atonement of Christ. For these reasons, τοῦ θεοῦ best explains the rise of the other readings and should be considered authentic.

¹⁶ tn Or “acquired.”

¹⁷ tn Or “with his own blood”; Grk “with the blood of his own.” The genitive construction could be taken in two ways: (1) as an attributive genitive (second attributive position) meaning “his own blood”; or (2) as a possessive genitive, “with the blood of his own.” In this case the referent is the Son, and the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. See further C. F. DeVine, “The Blood of God,” CBQ 9 (1947): 381-408.

¹⁸ tn Grk “after my departure.”

¹⁹ tn That is, people like fierce wolves. See BDAG 167-68 s.v. βαρύς 4 on the term translated “fierce.” The battle that will follow would be a savage one.