Jeremiah 50:17

50:17 “The people of Israel are like scattered sheep

which lions have chased away.

First the king of Assyria devoured them. ¹ 

Now last of all King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has gnawed their bones. ² 

Psalms 119:176

119:176 I have wandered off like a lost sheep. ³ 

Come looking for your servant,

for I do not forget your commands.

Isaiah 53:6

53:6 All of us had wandered off like sheep;

each of us had strayed off on his own path,

but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him. ⁴ 

Matthew 9:36

9:36 When ⁵  he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, ⁶  like sheep without a shepherd.

Matthew 10:6

10:6 Go ⁷  instead to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Matthew 15:24

15:24 So ⁸  he answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Matthew 18:11-13

18:11 [[EMPTY]] ⁹  18:12 What do you think? If someone ¹⁰  owns a hundred ¹¹  sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go look for the one that went astray? ¹²  18:13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, ¹³  he will rejoice more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.

Luke 15:4-7

15:4 “Which one ¹⁴  of you, if he has a hundred ¹⁵  sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture ¹⁶  and go look for ¹⁷  the one that is lost until he finds it? ¹⁸  15:5 Then ¹⁹  when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 15:6 Returning ²⁰  home, he calls together ²¹  his ²²  friends and neighbors, telling them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 15:7 I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner ²³  who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people ²⁴  who have no need to repent. ²⁵ 

Luke 15:1

The Parable of the Lost Sheep and Coin

15:1 Now all the tax collectors ²⁶  and sinners were coming ²⁷  to hear him.

Luke 2:25

The Prophecy of Simeon

2:25 Now ²⁸  there was a man in Jerusalem ²⁹  named Simeon who was righteous ³⁰  and devout, looking for the restoration ³¹  of Israel, and the Holy Spirit ³²  was upon him.

[50:17]  ¹ sn The king of Assyria devoured them. This refers to the devastation wrought on northern Israel by the kings of Assyria beginning in 738 b.c. when Tiglath Pileser took Galilee and the Transjordanian territories and ending with the destruction and exile of the people of Samaria by Sargon in 722 b.c.

[50:17]  ² tn The verb used here only occurs this one time in the Hebrew Bible. It is a denominative from the Hebrew word for “bones” (עֶצֶם, ’etsem). BDB 1126 s.v. עֶָצַם, denom Pi, define it as “break his bones.” HALOT 822 s.v. II עָצַם Pi defines it as “gnaw on his bones.”

[119:176]  ³ tn Heb “I stray like a lost sheep.” It is possible that the point of the metaphor is vulnerability: The psalmist, who is threatened by his enemies, feels as vulnerable as a straying, lost sheep. This would not suggest, however, that he has wandered from God’s path (see the second half of the verse, as well as v. 110).

[53:6]  ⁴ tn Elsewhere the Hiphil of פָגַע (paga’) means “to intercede verbally” (Jer 15:11; 36:25) or “to intervene militarily” (Isa 59:16), but neither nuance fits here. Apparently here the Hiphil is the causative of the normal Qal meaning, “encounter, meet, touch.” The Qal sometimes refers to a hostile encounter or attack; when used in this way the object is normally introduced by the preposition -בְּ (bet, see Josh 2:16; Judg 8:21; 15:12, etc.). Here the causative Hiphil has a double object – the Lord makes “sin” attack “him” (note that the object attacked is introduced by the preposition -בְּ. In their sin the group was like sheep who had wandered from God’s path. They were vulnerable to attack; the guilt of their sin was ready to attack and destroy them. But then the servant stepped in and took the full force of the attack.

[9:36]  ⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[9:36]  ⁶ tn Or “because they had been bewildered and helpless.” The translational issue is whether the perfect participles are predicate (as in the text) or are pluperfect periphrastic (the alternate translation). If the latter, the implication would seem to be that the crowds had been in such a state until the Great Shepherd arrived.

[10:6]  ⁷ tn Grk “But go.” The Greek μᾶλλον (mallon, “rather, instead”) conveys the adversative nuance here so that δέ (de) has not been translated.

[15:24]  ⁸ tn Grk “And answering, he said.” The construction in Greek is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the disciples’ request.

[18:11]  ⁹ tc The most important mss (א B L* Θ* Ë^1,13 33 892* pc e ff¹ sy^s sa) do not include 18:11 “For the Son of Man came to save the lost.” The verse is included in D L^mg W Θ^c 078^vid Ï lat sy^c,p,h, but is almost certainly not original, being borrowed, as it were, from the parallel in Luke 19:10. The present translation follows NA²⁷ in omitting the verse number as well, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations.

[18:12]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “a certain man.” The Greek word ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used here in a somewhat generic sense.

[18:12]  ¹¹ sn This individual with a hundred sheep is a shepherd of modest means, as flocks often had up to two hundred head of sheep.

[18:12]  ¹² 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.

[18:13]  ¹³ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[15:4]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “What man.” The Greek word ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used here in a somewhat generic sense.

[15:4]  ¹⁵ sn This individual with a hundred sheep is a shepherd of modest means, as flocks often had up to two hundred head of sheep.

[15:4]  ¹⁶ tn Or “desert,” but here such a translation might suggest neglect of the 99 sheep left behind.

[15:4]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “go after,” but in contemporary English the idiom “to look for” is used to express this.

[15:4]  ¹⁸ 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.

[15:5]  ¹⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[15:6]  ²⁰ tn Grk “And coming into his…” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[15:6]  ²¹ sn A touch of drama may be present, as the term calls together can mean a formal celebration (1 Kgs 1:9-10).

[15:6]  ²² tn Grk “the”; in context the article is used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215). It occurs before “neighbors” as well (“his friends and his neighbors”) but has not been translated the second time because of English style.

[15:7]  ²³ sn There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. The pursuit of the sinner is a priority in spite of the presence of others who are doing well (see also Luke 5:32; 19:10). The theme of repentance, a major Lukan theme, is again emphasized.

[15:7]  ²⁴ tn Here δικαίοις (dikaioi") is an adjective functioning substantivally and has been translated “righteous people.”

[15:7]  ²⁵ tn Or “who do not need to repent”; Grk “who do not have need of repentance.”

[15:1]  ²⁶ sn See the note on tax collectors in 3:12.

[15:1]  ²⁷ tn Grk “were drawing near.”

[2:25]  ²⁸ tn Grk “And behold.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic. The Greek word ἰδού (idou) at the beginning of this statement has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[2:25]  ²⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:25]  ³⁰ tn Grk “This man was righteous.” The Greek text begins a new sentence here, but this was changed to a relative clause in the translation to avoid redundancy.

[2:25]  ³¹ tn Or “deliverance,” “consolation.”

[2:25]  ³² sn Once again, by mentioning the Holy Spirit, Luke stresses the prophetic enablement of a speaker. The Spirit has fallen on both men (Zechariah, 1:67) and women (Elizabeth, 1:41) in Luke 1–2 as they share the will of the Lord.