Matthew 18:11

18:11 [[EMPTY]] ¹ 

Psalms 119:176

119:176 I have wandered off like a lost sheep. ² 

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. ³ 

Jeremiah 50:6

50:6 “My people have been lost sheep.

Their shepherds ⁴  have allow them to go astray.

They have wandered around in the mountains.

They have roamed from one mountain and hill to another. ⁵ 

They have forgotten their resting place.

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. ⁶ 

Now last of all King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has gnawed their bones. ⁷ 

Ezekiel 34:6

34:6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them.

Ezekiel 34:8

34:8 As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, my sheep have become prey and have become food for all the wild beasts. There was no shepherd, and my shepherds did not search for my flock, but fed themselves and did not feed my sheep,

Ezekiel 34:16

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!

Luke 15:3-10

15:3 So ⁸  Jesus ⁹  told them ¹⁰  this parable: ¹¹  15:4 “Which one ¹²  of you, if he has a hundred ¹³  sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture ¹⁴  and go look for ¹⁵  the one that is lost until he finds it? ¹⁶  15:5 Then ¹⁷  when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 15:6 Returning ¹⁸  home, he calls together ¹⁹  his ²⁰  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 ²¹  who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people ²²  who have no need to repent. ²³ 

15:8 “Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins ²⁴  and loses ²⁵  one of them, ²⁶  does not light a lamp, sweep ²⁷  the house, and search thoroughly until she finds it? 15:9 Then ²⁸  when she has found it, she calls together her ²⁹  friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice ³⁰  with me, for I have found the coin ³¹  that I had lost.’ 15:10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels ³²  over one sinner who repents.”

Luke 15:1

The Parable of the Lost Sheep and Coin

15:1 Now all the tax collectors ³³  and sinners were coming ³⁴  to hear him.

Luke 2:25

The Prophecy of Simeon

2:25 Now ³⁵  there was a man in Jerusalem ³⁶  named Simeon who was righteous ³⁷  and devout, looking for the restoration ³⁸  of Israel, and the Holy Spirit ³⁹  was upon him.

[18:11]  ¹ 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.

[119:176]  ² 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]  ³ 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.

[50:6]  ⁴ sn The shepherds are the priests, prophets, and leaders who have led Israel into idolatry (2:8).

[50:6]  ⁵ sn The allusion here, if it is not merely a part of the metaphor of the wandering sheep, is to the worship of the false gods on the high hills (2:20, 3:2).

[50:17]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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.”

[15:3]  ⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate that Jesus’ telling of the parable is in response to the complaints of the Pharisees and experts in the law.

[15:3]  ⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:3]  ¹⁰ sn Them means at the minimum the parable is for the leadership, but probably also for those people Jesus accepted, but the leaders regarded as outcasts.

[15:3]  ¹¹ tn Grk “parable, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[15:4]  ¹² tn Grk “What man.” The Greek word ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used here in a somewhat generic sense.

[15:4]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Or “desert,” but here such a translation might suggest neglect of the 99 sheep left behind.

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

[15:4]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[15:6]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “And coming into his…” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[15:6]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Here δικαίοις (dikaioi") is an adjective functioning substantivally and has been translated “righteous people.”

[15:7]  ²³ tn Or “who do not need to repent”; Grk “who do not have need of repentance.”

[15:8]  ²⁴ sn This silver coin is a drachma, equal to a denarius, that is, a day’s pay for the average laborer.

[15:8]  ²⁵ tn Grk “What woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses.” The initial participle ἔχουσα (ecousa) has been translated as a finite verb parallel to ἀπολέσῃ (apolesh) in the conditional clause to improve the English style.

[15:8]  ²⁶ tn Grk “one coin.”

[15:8]  ²⁷ tn Grk “and sweep,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[15:9]  ²⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[15:9]  ²⁹ tn Grk “the”; in context the article is used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[15:9]  ³⁰ sn Rejoice. Besides the theme of pursuing the lost, the other theme of the parable is the joy of finding them.

[15:9]  ³¹ tn Grk “drachma.”

[15:10]  ³² sn The whole of heaven is said to rejoice. Joy in the presence of God’s angels is a way of referring to God’s joy as well without having to name him explicitly. Contemporary Judaism tended to refer to God indirectly where possible out of reverence or respect for the divine name.

[15:1]  ³³ sn See the note on tax collectors in 3:12.

[15:1]  ³⁴ tn Grk “were drawing near.”

[2:25]  ³⁵ 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]  ³⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:25]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ tn Or “deliverance,” “consolation.”

[2:25]  ³⁹ 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.