John 10:8

10:8 All who came before me were ¹  thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ² 

John 18:40

18:40 Then they shouted back, ³  “Not this man, ⁴  but Barabbas!” ⁵  (Now Barabbas was a revolutionary. ⁶ ) ⁷ 

John 10:1

Jesus as the Good Shepherd

10:1 “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁸  the one who does not enter the sheepfold ⁹  by the door, ¹⁰  but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.

[10:8]  ¹ tn Grk “are” (present tense).

[10:8]  ² tn Or “the sheep did not hear them.”

[18:40]  ³ tn Or “they shouted again,” or “they shouted in turn.” On the difficulty of translating πάλιν (palin) see BDAG 753 s.v. 5. It is simplest in the context of John’s Gospel to understand the phrase to mean “they shouted back” as a reply to Pilate’s question.

[18:40]  ⁴ tn Grk “this one.”

[18:40]  ⁵ sn The name Barabbas in Aramaic means “son of abba,” that is, “son of the father,” and presumably the man in question had another name (it may also have been Jesus, according to the textual variant in Matt 27:16, although this is uncertain). For the author this name held ironic significance: The crowd was asking for the release of a man called Barabbas, “son of the father,” while Jesus, who was truly the Son of the Father, was condemned to die instead.

[18:40]  ⁶ tn Or “robber.” It is possible that Barabbas was merely a robber or highwayman, but more likely, given the use of the term ληστής (lhsth") in Josephus and other early sources, that he was a guerrilla warrior or revolutionary leader. See both R. E. Brown (John [AB], 2:857) and K. H. Rengstorf (TDNT 4:258) for more information. The word λῃστής was used a number of times by Josephus (J. W. 2.13.2-3 [2.253-254]) to describe the revolutionaries or guerrilla fighters who, from mixed motives of nationalism and greed, kept the rural districts of Judea in constant turmoil.

[18:40]  ⁷ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[10:1]  ⁵ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[10:1]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Or “entrance.”