John 10 is the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The gospel identifies an unnamed "disciple whom Jesus loved" as its source and possible author.Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. "John" pp. 302–10 Early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that John composed this Gospel.Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012. This chapter records Jesus' description of himself as the "door of the sheep" and the "Good Shepherd", and contains the only mention of Hanukkah, "the Feast of Dedication", in the New Testament.Halley, Henry H. Halley's Bible Handbook: an Abbreviated Bible Commentary. 23rd edition. Zondervan Publishing House. 1962.
Text
The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 42 verses. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: Papyrus 75 (AD 175–225) Papyrus 66 (~200) Codex Vaticanus (325–350) Papyrus 6 (~350; extant: Greek verses 1–2, 4–7, 9–10; Coptic verses 1–12, 20) Codex Sinaiticus (330–360) Codex Bezae (~400) Codex Alexandrinus (400–440)
Old Testament references : ,
: Psalm
Places Events recorded in this chapter refer to the following locations: Jerusalem () The east bank of Jordan River, the place where John the Baptist was baptizing at first. ()
The true shepherd illustration In verses , Jesus uses a parable,John 10:6, King James Version and Authorised Version illustration, New King James Version and God's Word Translation or "figure of speech": English Standard Version regarding the manner in which a true shepherd enters his sheepfold, through the door or the gate, unlike the manner of a thief or a stranger. H. W. Watkins notes that "the word rendered 'parable' (in verse 6) is the wider word (, paroimia) which includes every kind of figurative and proverbial teaching, every kind of speech ... which departs from the usual course (, oimos)". The word παραβολα (parabola) is not used in John's Gospel.Watkins, H. W. (1905), Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers on John 10, accessed 17 May 2016
Jesus begins: Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.: New International Version The Pharisees are not mentioned in the Greek text (λεγω υμιν,: Westcott-Hort New Testament legō humin, "I speak to you") but they are mentioned in the New International Version (NIV) in continuity with John 9:40, where "some Pharisees" had spoken with Jesus. The NIV and the Jerusalem Bible also confirm in verse 6 that the Pharisees are the group Jesus is addressing.: NIVJerusalem Bible (1966), Footnote b at John 10:6 German Protestant theologian Heinrich Meyer argues that these verses continue from chapter 9 "without the slightest indication of a change having taken place", and that ideally the chapter break would have been inserted at John 9:35.Meyer, H. A. W. (1880), Meyer's NT Commentary on John 10, translated from the German sixth edition, accessed 25 May 2019 Henry Alford likewise connects this pericope with John 9:35-41.Alford, H., Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary - Alford on John 10, accessed 12 August 2022
In this illustration, the true shepherd "enters the sheepfold by the door" and "calls his own sheep by name and leads them out ()" (). The alternative way in, taken by the thief or stranger, is to "climb up some other way", i.e. to climb over the wall of the sheepfold.: Amplified Bible The narrative is introduced "very truly" or "most assuredly".: NKJV Jesus' audience ("they", verse 6) did not understand what he was saying, and did not understand that he was applying the reference to thieves and robbers (verse 1) to themselves.
In its reference to the shepherd leading the flock out of the sheepfold, verse 3 has the only occurrence in the New Testament of the word ἐξάγει (exagei).Englishman's Concordance, accessed 18 May 2016 The Ethiopic version adds "and loves them" to verse 3.Gill, J., Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible on John 10, accessed 18 May 2016
The door of the sheep and the good shepherd In verse 7, Jesus "feels compelled" to start again (πάλιν, palin). He describes himself here and in verse 9 as "the door of the sheep",: NKJV and in and as "the good shepherd". The word in is translated as "door" in the King James Version, the American Standard Version, and the Revised Standard Version, but as "gate" in the New Revised Standard Version, the New International Version, the Common English Bible, and other translations.Translations accessed at BibleGateway.com In verse 7, the Textus Receptus adds that Jesus said to them () but this addition is generally agreed to be "of doubtful authority".Plummer, A., Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on John 10, cf. Watkins, H. W., Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers on John 10, both accessed 24 May 2016
The hired hand 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.: ESV These verses contain a new figure of speech which builds on the reference to a "stranger" in verse 5, here highlighting the unreliability of the hired hand ("hireling" KJV, RSV, NKJV) who runs away., 60. John in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), The Oxford Bible Commentary, p. 979, archived on 2 November 2017
Verse 21 Others said, "These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?": NKJV This verse further reiterates the continuity between this chapter and the dialogue following the healing of the man born blind in John 9.
The Feast of Dedication Verse 22 refers to Hanukkah: Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.: NKJV The feast (, ta egkainia) recalls the Maccabean purification and re-dedication of the Temple, . The narrative moves forward from the Feast of Tabernacles, when the events and teaching from to appear to take place.Benson, J., Benson's Commentary on John 10, accessed 25 May 2019 During the intervening two months, there is no account of whether Jesus remained in Jerusalem or not. In we read that Jesus "went away again beyond the Jordan". Meyer identifies a number of commentators who have suggested that there was an additional "journey to Galilee or Peraea" before the feast of dedication, although he himself considers that these suggestions are "dictated by harmonistic presuppositions and clumsy combinations, ... and not by the requirements of exegesis".
Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch or colonnade,: NKJV a gathering place used by the early church (see and ) located on the eastern side of the temple.Plummer, A., Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on John 10, accessed 15 August 2022. Note Plummer's reference to John 5:12 is errorneous
The believers beyond the Jordan The chapter ends with Jesus evading Jewish attempts to stone him () and then leaving Jerusalem () and traveling "beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first" (Perea). and similarly record that Jesus traveled "to the region of Judea by the other side of the Jordan", but in the synoptic tradition He had previously been in Capernaum rather than Jerusalem. Perea was a region where many people "came to the decision that He was the Messiah" ( in the Living Bible translation).
See also Hanukkah Jerusalem Jesus Christ John the Baptist Jordan River Solomon's Porch Trinitarian indwelling (related to John 10:38) Related Bible parts: Psalm 23, Psalm 82, Ezekiel 34
References
External links King James Bible - Wikisource
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English) (NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.)