John 10:1

Jesus as the Good Shepherd

10:1 “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  the one who does not enter the sheepfold ²  by the door, ³  but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.

John 10:12-13

10:12 The hired hand, ⁴  who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons ⁵  the sheep and runs away. ⁶  So the wolf attacks ⁷  the sheep and scatters them. 10:13 Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, ⁸  he runs away. ⁹ 

[10:1]  ¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[10:1]  ² sn There was more than one type of sheepfold in use in Palestine in Jesus’ day. The one here seems to be a courtyard in front of a house (the Greek word used for the sheepfold here, αὐλή [aulh] frequently refers to a courtyard), surrounded by a stone wall (often topped with briars for protection).

[10:1]  ³ tn Or “entrance.”

[10:12]  ⁴ sn Jesus contrasts the behavior of the shepherd with that of the hired hand. This is a worker who is simply paid to do a job; he has no other interest in the sheep and is certainly not about to risk his life for them. When they are threatened, he simply runs away.

[10:12]  ⁵ tn Grk “leaves.”

[10:12]  ⁶ tn Or “flees.”

[10:12]  ⁷ tn Or “seizes.” The more traditional rendering, “snatches,” has the idea of seizing something by force and carrying it off, which is certainly possible here. However, in the sequence in John 10:12, this action precedes the scattering of the flock of sheep, so “attacks” is preferable.

[10:13]  ⁸ tn Grk “does not have a care for the sheep.”

[10:13]  ⁹ tc The phrase “he runs away” is lacking in several important mss (Ì^{44vid,45,66,75} א A*^vid B D L [W] Θ 1 33 1241 al co). Most likely it was added by a later scribe to improve the readability of vv. 12-13, which is one long sentence in Greek. It has been included in the translation for the same stylistic reasons.