Luke 19:10

19:10 For the Son of Man came ¹  to seek and to save the lost.”

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 

John 10:16

10:16 I have ³  other sheep that do not come from ⁴  this sheepfold. ⁵  I must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice, ⁶  so that ⁷  there will be one flock and ⁸  one shepherd.

John 11:52

11:52 and not for the Jewish nation ⁹  only, ¹⁰  but to gather together ¹¹  into one the children of God who are scattered.) ¹² 

Ephesians 2:17

2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near,

¹ sn The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost is Jesus’ mission succinctly defined. See Luke 15:1-32.

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

³ 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.

⁴ tn Or “that do not belong to”; Grk “that are not of.”

⁵ 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.

⁶ tn Grk “they will hear my voice.”

⁷ tn Grk “voice, and.”

⁸ 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.

⁹ tn See the note on the word “nation” in the previous verse.

¹⁰ sn The author in his comment expands the prophecy to include the Gentiles (not for the Jewish nation only), a confirmation that the Fourth Gospel was directed, at least partly, to a Gentile audience. There are echoes of Pauline concepts here (particularly Eph 2:11-22) in the stress on the unity of Jew and Gentile.

¹¹ tn Grk “that he might gather together.”

¹² sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.