Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word

Theme · narrative

Shepherd

The patriarchs are literally shepherds, and the metaphor transfers naturally to leadership: God shepherds Israel, David the shepherd boy becomes king, and the prophets judge Israel's leaders as false shepherds who scatter the flock. Psalm 23 is the most intimate expression: 'The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.' Ezekiel 34 promises that God himself will search for his sheep and set over them one shepherd, his servant David. Jesus claims this role explicitly: 'I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.' Peter calls Jesus the Chief Shepherd and tells elders to shepherd the flock entrusted to them.

Passages expressing this theme

  • 1Pet 2:25 — For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
  • 1Pet 5:2 — Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
  • 1Pet 5:4 — And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
  • Acts 20:28 — Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
  • Ezek 34:11 — For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.
  • Ezek 34:12 — As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the
  • Ezek 34:15 — I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.
  • Ezek 34:23 — And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.
  • Gen 48:15 — And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,
  • Gen 49:24 — But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
  • Heb 13:20 — Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
  • Isa 40:11 — He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
  • Jer 23:4 — And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.
  • Jer 31:10 — Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.
  • Matt 9:36 — But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
  • Matt 18:12 — How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
  • Matt 25:32 — And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
  • Matt 26:31 — Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.
  • Ps 23:1 — The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
  • Ps 23:2 — He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
  • Ps 23:4 — Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
  • Ps 80:1 — Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.
  • Ps 100:3 — Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
  • Rev 7:17 — For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
  • Zech 13:7 — Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little one