65:1 “I made myself available to those who did not ask for me; 1
I appeared to those who did not look for me. 2
I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’
to a nation that did not invoke 3 my name.
34:11 “‘For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out. 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. 4 34:13 I will bring them out from among the peoples and gather them from foreign countries; I will bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams and all the inhabited places of the land. 34:14 In a good pasture I will feed them; the mountain heights of Israel will be their pasture. There they will lie down in a lush 5 pasture, and they will feed on rich grass on the mountains of Israel. 34:15 I myself will feed my sheep and I myself will make them lie down, declares the sovereign Lord. 34:16 I will seek the lost and bring back the strays; I will bandage the injured and strengthen the sick, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them – with judgment!
1 tn Heb “I allowed myself to be sought by those who did not ask.”
2 tn Heb “I allowed myself to be found by those who did not seek.”
3 tn Heb “call out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “call on.”
4 sn The imagery may reflect the overthrow of the Israelites by the Babylonians in 587/6
5 tn Heb “good.”
6 tc The most important
7 tn Grk “a certain man.” The Greek word ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used here in a somewhat generic sense.
8 sn This individual with a hundred sheep is a shepherd of modest means, as flocks often had up to two hundred head of sheep.
9 sn Look for the one that went astray. The parable pictures God’s pursuit of the sinner. On the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, see John 10:1-18.
10 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”
11 tn Grk “What man.” The Greek word ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used here in a somewhat generic sense.
12 sn This individual with a hundred sheep is a shepherd of modest means, as flocks often had up to two hundred head of sheep.
13 tn Or “desert,” but here such a translation might suggest neglect of the 99 sheep left behind.
14 tn Grk “go after,” but in contemporary English the idiom “to look for” is used to express this.
15 sn Until he finds it. The parable pictures God’s pursuit of the sinner. On the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, see John 10:1-18.
16 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
17 sn The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost is Jesus’ mission succinctly defined. See Luke 15:1-32.
18 tn Grk “an hour.”
19 tn “Here” is not in the Greek text but is supplied to conform to contemporary English idiom.
20 sn See also John 4:27.
21 tn Or “as.” The object-complement construction implies either “as” or “to be.”
22 tn This is a double accusative construction of object and complement with τοιούτους (toioutous) as the object and the participle προσκυνοῦντας (proskunounta") as the complement.
23 tn Grk “And I have.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
24 tn Or “that do not belong to”; Grk “that are not of.”
25 sn The statement I have other sheep that do not come from this sheepfold almost certainly refers to Gentiles. Jesus has sheep in the fold who are Jewish; there are other sheep which, while not of the same fold, belong to him also. This recalls the mission of the Son in 3:16-17, which was to save the world – not just the nation of Israel. Such an emphasis would be particularly appropriate to the author if he were writing to a non-Palestinian and primarily non-Jewish audience.
26 tn Grk “they will hear my voice.”
27 tn Grk “voice, and.”
28 tn The word “and” is not in the Greek text, but must be supplied to conform to English style. In Greek it is an instance of asyndeton (omission of a connective), usually somewhat emphatic.