πρόβατον

Matthew 7:15 προβάτων, of sheep,

Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

Here: 'Of sheep'. This could mean garments that make them look like sheep (members of God's flock), or garments made of sheepskin, like the prophet's mantle. The two ideas overlap.

Matthew 9:36 πρόβατα sheep

When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Here: Sheep, the standard biblical picture of Israel as God's flock. The neuter plural matches the image, though the people are the ones meant.

Matthew 10:6 πρόβατα sheep

Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.

Here: God's people pictured as his flock. The image calls up a long biblical tradition of Israel as the Lord's sheep and of its kings and leaders as shepherds who answer for them.

Matthew 10:16 πρόβατα sheep

Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

Here: Sheep cannot defend themselves and depend on a shepherd. The word ties back to 9:36 (crowds 'like sheep without a shepherd') and 10:6 ('the lost sheep of the house of Israel'). There is an irony here: the ones sent to the lost sheep go out as sheep themselves.

Matthew 12:11 πρόβατον sheep

He replied, “If one of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out?

Matthew 12:12 προβάτου; than a sheep?

How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Matthew 15:24 πρόβατα sheep

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Here: 'Sheep.' A standard biblical picture of God's people as a flock that needs a shepherd (Ezekiel 34; Matthew 9:36). It is a picture of a people, not of isolated individuals.

Matthew 18:12 πρόβατα sheep

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?

Here: Small livestock, usually sheep. In Israel's scriptures sheep are the standard picture of God's people (Ps 23; 100:3; Ezek 34).

Matthew 25:32 πρόβατα sheep

All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

Here: Sheep, the animal that already stands for God's people in Matthew (10:6; 15:24; 26:31). The image is set up for the favourable group.

Matthew 25:33 πρόβατα the sheep

He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.

Here: The ordinary word for sheep, and Matthew's usual image for God's people under a shepherd. The word refers to the animals in the shepherd's picture, but the sentence is already talking about people.

Matthew 26:31 πρόβατα sheep

Then Jesus said to them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of Me. For it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

Here: The disciples, the first members of Jesus' renewed Israel (compare 10:6, 'the lost sheep of the house of Israel').

Mark 6:34 πρόβατα sheep

When Jesus stepped ashore and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.

Here: Sheep, the standard biblical image for God's people Israel as a flock that depends on whoever leads, feeds and protects it.

Mark 14:27 πρόβατα sheep

Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’

Here: The flock that belongs to the shepherd. Here it means the disciples, and behind them the image of Israel as God's flock.

Luke 15:4 πρόβατα sheep

“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

Here: Sheep. In Israel's Scriptures this word calls up the old picture of God's people as a flock and their leaders as shepherds.

Luke 15:6 πρόβατόν sheep

comes home, and calls together his friends and neighbors to tell them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep!’

Here: A sheep. To a Jewish hearer this was a standard image for God's people, Israel (Psalm 100:3; Ezekiel 34).

John 2:14 πρόβατα sheep

In the temple courts He found men selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and money changers seated at their tables.

Here: Sheep (and in a broad sense small livestock). At Passover they were wanted above all for the Passover lamb itself, and for other offerings.

John 2:15 πρόβατα the sheep

So He made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle. He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.

Here: Sheep (the word can cover small livestock generally) sold for sacrifice. At Passover there was heavy demand for lambs and for festival offerings.

John 10:1 προβάτων sheep

“Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.

Here: A standard Scriptural picture of God's people Israel (Ezek 34; Ps 95:7; Num 27:17). The sheep are the point of the whole picture.

John 10:2 προβάτων. sheep.

But the one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

Here: "Sheep" (plural). In the picture these are real animals in a pen. In the setting of John 9–10 they stand for the people of God, such as the healed blind man whom the Pharisees have just thrown out.

John 10:3 πρόβατα πρόβατα sheep

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen for his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

Here: The sheep in the enclosure. Some readers think this means every flock penned there. Each flock hears a voice, but the next clause narrows to "his own".

John 10:4 πρόβατα sheep

When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.

Here: Sheep (or flock animals in general). In Israel's scriptures this is a standard picture of God's people under God's care (Ps 23; 95:7; 100:3; Ezek 34).

John 10:7 προβάτων. sheep.

So He said to them again, “Truly, truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.

Here: Grammatically “of the sheep.” This can mean the door that belongs to the sheep and lets them in (v. 9), or the door that gives access to the sheep (vv. 1–2). Behind the picture stands the old image of God's people as his flock (Ps 95:7; 100:3; Ezek 34).

John 10:8 πρόβατα. sheep.

All who came before Me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.

Here: The true flock, the people who belong to God and recognise his shepherd. Placed last in the Greek sentence, it lands with weight: these are the ones who were never fooled. The healed blind man of chapter 9 is the living example.

John 10:11 προβάτων. sheep.

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

Here: Sheep (and flock animals in general). In Israel's scriptures, a standard picture of God's people, who depend on their shepherd for protection.

John 10:12 πρόβατα πρόβατα sheep

The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock.

Here: The flock. In this chapter it stands for the people who belong to the shepherd (10:3-4, 14, 16, 26-27).

John 10:13 προβάτων.¶ sheep.

The man runs away because he is a hired servant and is unconcerned for the sheep.

Here: The flock. Throughout John 10 it stands for the people of God in Israel's shepherd imagery, and here specifically for those Jesus calls his own (vv. 3–4, 14).

John 10:15 προβάτων. sheep.

just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep.

Here: The flock. In Scripture this is a long-standing picture of God's people, who need a shepherd to protect, feed and lead them.

John 10:16 πρόβατα sheep

I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them in as well, and they will listen to My voice. Then there will be one flock and one shepherd.

Here: The same word used all through John 10 for the shepherd's own people. These sheep are already called his before they have been brought.

John 10:26 προβάτων sheep

But because you are not My sheep, you refuse to believe.

Here: 'Sheep' as a flock owned by a shepherd. This is an old picture of God's people under God, or under his appointed ruler.

John 10:27 πρόβατα sheep

My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.

Here: The flock. From the Psalms and Ezekiel onward this is the standard picture of God's people under their shepherd-king. The stress falls on belonging and being cared for, not on sheep being stupid.

John 21:16 πρόβατά sheep

Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus told him, “Shepherd My sheep.”

Here: Sheep (v.15 had arnia, 'lambs'). The word ties straight back to the Good Shepherd discourse, where probata is used again and again (10:1–16, 26–27).

John 21:17 πρόβατά sheep

Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

Here: The flock. Some early manuscripts have the diminutive probatia, 'little / dear sheep'. Either way it calls back the Good Shepherd's sheep of John 10.

Acts 8:32 πρόβατον a sheep

The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so He did not open His mouth.

Here: An ordinary animal from the flock. It translates Hebrew *seh*, a word for any single sheep or goat. The image is of everyday herding and butchering.

Romans 8:36 πρόβατα sheep

As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

Here: Small livestock: helpless, cheap to own, and kept to be used up.

Hebrews 13:20 προβάτων sheep

Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,

Here: The flock. In Israel's scriptures this is a standard picture of God's people (Psalm 95:7; Ezekiel 34), and it includes the readers.

1 Peter 2:25 πρόβατα sheep

For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Here: Sheep, here as a picture of people who cannot find their own way and need a shepherd. It echoes Isaiah 53:6 in the Greek Old Testament: "all we like sheep have gone astray."

Revelation 18:13 πρόβατα sheep

of cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; of wine, olive oil, fine flour, and wheat; of cattle, sheep, horses, and carriages; of bodies and souls of slaves.

Here: Sheep (and small flock animals generally), traded for meat, wool and sacrifice.