Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they didn’t understand what he was telling them.
Parallel Translations
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Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they didn’t understand what he was telling them.
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This similitude spake Iesus vnto them. But they vnderstode not what thinges they were which he spake vnto them.
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This parable spake Iesus vnto them: but they vnderstoode not what things they were which he spake vnto them.
Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to John 10:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 56:11 Yes, the dogs are greedy. They can never have enough. They are shepherds who can’t understand. They have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter.
- Psalms 82:5 They don’t know, neither do they understand. They walk back and forth in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
- Proverbs 28:5 Evil men don’t understand justice; but those who seek Yahweh understand it fully.
- Psalms 106:7 Our fathers didn’t understand your wonders in Egypt. They didn’t remember the multitude of your loving kindnesses, but were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea.
- Isaiah 6:9-10 He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand. You see indeed, but don’t perceive.’ Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.”
- Daniel 12:10 Many will purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked will do wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand; but those who are wise will understand.
- Matthew 13:51 Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?” They answered him, “Yes, Lord.”
- John 16:25 I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. But the time is coming when I will no more speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father.
- Matthew 13:13-14 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand. In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive:
- John 6:52 The Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
- John 6:60 Therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying! Who can listen to it?”
- John 7:36 What is this word that he said, ‘You will seek me, and won’t find me;’ and ‘Where I am, you can’t come’?”
- John 8:27 They didn’t understand that he spoke to them about the Father.
- John 8:43 Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word.
- 1 Corinthians 2:14 Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- 1 John 5:20 We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 6. This parable. This is the reason why, proudly…
6. This parable. This is the reason why, proudly vaunting of their wisdom, they rejected the light of Christ; for in a matter not very obscure they are exceedingly dull of apprehension.
But they did not understand what things they were which he spoke to them. In this clause the Greek manuscripts differ. Some copies might be literally rendered, they did not understand what he said Another reading, which I have followed, is more full, though it amounts to the same meaning. The third reading is, that they did not know that he who spoke of himself was the Son of God; but this is not much approved.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain This word (parable) which the Evangelist useth here, signifieth…
This word (parable) which the Evangelist useth here, signifieth a dark kind of speech, when words are taken from their natural meaning, to signify another thing to us.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they…
6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.
Ver. 6. But they understood not] So thick brained and incapable we are, till that vail be rent, Isa 25:7. Those that have a blemish in their eye, the more wishly they look into anything the less they see of it, as Vives hath it. So it is here. Lusciosi, si quando oculorum aciem intendunt, minus vident. (Vives in Aug. Civ. Dei. lxxxi. 6.)
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Our Saviour was wont to instruct them in the…
Our Saviour was wont to instruct them in the mysteries of the kingdom of God by parables, that is, similitudes taken from reasonable actions of men, which might be, and were, proper to express spiritual things by. Wherefore he used this method in teaching, we are told, Mat 13:10-13. They well enough understood the words in which those parables were delivered; but the inward sense, the spiritual mysteries shadowed out in those similitudes, these they understood not; neither the common sort of his disciples understood them, nor did the better sort of his disciples understand them without a further explication of them. Our Lord therefore, in the following verses, comes to give them a large explication of the parable.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain This parable spake Jesus unto them,.... To the Pharisees,…
This parable spake Jesus unto them,.... To the Pharisees, who were with him, Joh 9:40;
but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them; the things spoken by him being delivered in a parabolical way, though in lively figures, and in terms plain and easy to be understood; yet what through the blindness of their minds, and the hardness of their hearts, and their prejudices in favour of themselves, and against Christ, they did not understand what were meant by them; see Mat 13:13.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain They - The Pharisees, to whom our Lord more…
They - The Pharisees, to whom our Lord more immediately spake, as appears from the close of the foregoing chapter.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Joh 10:6-8. This parable spake Jesus: but they understood…
Joh 10:6-8. This parable spake Jesus: but they understood not, &c. — In this symbolical way Jesus taught the Pharisees the difference between true and false teachers; but they did not understand the meaning of what he said: therefore he added, by way of explication, Verily, verily, I say unto you — I solemnly assure you of it, as an undoubted and most momentous truth; I am the door of the sheep — That is, the door by which the sheep- fold is entered. Or his meaning may be, I am not only the door by which the shepherds must enter; not only the person whose right alone it is to admit men to the office of shepherds, and who alone can qualify them for that office and dignity, but I am also the door of the sheep; it is by the knowledge of, and faith in me, by an interest in my merits, and by a participation of my Spirit, and in no other way, that men must or can enter into the truly spiritual enclosure of my church. All that ever came before me — Assuming the character of the Messiah, or any part thereof, or pretending, like your elders and rabbis, to a power over the consciences of men, attempting to make laws in and for the church, and teaching their own traditions as necessary to be observed, or other methods of obtaining salvation than by me; all those, who in former times assumed the character of teachers of religion, without a commission from me, and all those teachers and preachers of God’s word that enter not by the door into the sheep-fold, but run before I send them by my Spirit, and before they themselves are my true disciples, subjects, and servants, or are in me new creatures; (our Lord seems in particular to speak of those that had undertaken this office since he began his ministry;) are thieves and robbers — Persons influenced by improper motives, who had and have no warrant from above for assuming any such character, pretending to any such power, or undertaking any such office, and whatsoever their pretences have been or are, the administration of such persons had, and always will have, a tendency to destroy the souls they should watch over and feed: for they are not only thieves, stealing temporal profit to themselves, but robbers, plundering and murdering the sheep. But the sheep — My true people; did not hear them — Did not attend upon, relish or regard their doctrine.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain This parable - See the notes at Mat 13:3.
This parable - See the notes at Mat 13:3.
They understood not ... - They did not understand the meaning or design of the illustration.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 6. Parable—Our Lord here uses the ordinary Greek not…
6. Parable—Our Lord here uses the ordinary Greek not for parable, but for any allegorical composition. See remarks on page 227. The present passage might easily be made a parable by being put into a narrative form.
They understood not—The simile of a shepherd was common in the Old Testament; but our Lord had put the case so indefinitely that they were able to overlook its suitableness to their own persons. Jesus proceeds to apply by avowing himself to be the door; but still leaves them to infer who are the thieves and robbers.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. This parable] Better, This allegory. The word which…
6. This parable] Better, This allegory. The word which the Synoptists use for ‘parable’ (parabolê) is never used by S. John; and the word here used by S. John (paroimia) is never used by the Synoptists. This should be brought out in translation; both are rendered by our translators sometimes ‘parable’ and sometimes ‘proverb.’ Paroimia occurs again Joh_16:25; Joh_16:29 and 2Pe_2:22, and nowhere else in N.T. Everywhere but here it is translated ‘proverb.’ Paroimia means something beside the way; hence, according to some, a trite ‘way side saying;’ according to others, a figurative ‘out-of-the-way saying.’ On parabolê see on Mar_4:2.
understood not] Did not recognise the meaning.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) This parable spake Jesus unto them.—Better, this allegory…
(6) This parable spake Jesus unto them.—Better, this allegory spake Jesus unto them. The word rendered “parable” is the wider word (παροιμία, paroimia) which includes every kind of figurative and proverbial teaching, every kind of speech, as the etymology reminds us, which departs from the usual course (οῑμος, oimos). St. John nowhere uses the word “parable.” The word paroimia occurs again in Joh_16:25; Joh_16:29, and once besides in the New Testament; this is in 2Pe_2:22 (“according to the true proverb”), in a quotation from the Greek version of Pro_26:11, where the Hebrew word is mâshal. (Comp. Note on Mat_13:3, and Trench On the Parables, pp. 8-10.) The discourse of this chapter differs from the true parable, which is a story in which the outer facts are kept wholly distinct from the ideal truths that are to be taught; whereas here the form and the idea interpenetrate each other at every point. It is so in the other so-called “parable” in this Gospel (John 15). Strictly speaking, neither the “Good Shepherd” nor the “True Vine” is a parable. Both are “allegories,” or rather, they are, as there is every reason to think, allegorical interpretations of actual events in the material world, which are thus made the vehicle of spiritual truths. It will follow from this that the interpretation of every point in the history of the material facts (e.g., “the porter” in Joh_10:3) is not always to be pressed. In the parable the story is made to express the spiritual truth, and with greater or lesser fulness every point in it may have its spiritual counterpart. The outer facts which are allegorised exist independently of the spiritual truth. The fact that they express it at some central points is all that is necessary for the allegory, and greater caution should attend the use of any addition to the interpretation which is given.
But they understood not what things they were . . .—They of course understood the outer facts, then passing before their eyes, or, in any case, well known to them. What they did not understand was the spiritual truths underlying these phenomena. They must have known His words had some spiritual meaning. They were accustomed to every form of allegorical teaching, and they could not have thought that He was simply describing to them the everyday events of the shepherd’s life. But they who think that they see (Joh_9:41) are spiritually blind, and cannot understand the elements of divine truth.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain This parable spake Jesus unto them. The word paroimia…
This parable spake Jesus unto them. The word paroimia occurs only in this place and in Joh_16:25-29 2Pe_2:22. It is the LXX rendering of lvm proverb, in Pro_1:1, a similitude or didactic saying. The Greek word means any speech (ethos) deviating (para) from the common way (Lange). It may deviate by its sententious or parabolical form, which conceals under a closed metaphor a variety of meanings. But they, the Pharisees, who were confident of their own position, and gloried in their influence over men, and whose moral nature was steeled and armed to resist even a possible reference to themselves as "thieves," or "robbers," or "aliens," and who would not admit any of Christ"s claims to their own disparagement, understood not what things they were which he was saying to them. The blind man had heard Ms voice, obeyed, found healing, advanced step by step from a bare knowledge of "a man Jesus" to a confession of him as one empowered by God; to a belief that he was a "Prophet," able to relax Mosaic Law; and finally to a ready acknowledgment that he was the Son of God. The Pharisees were conscious of neither need, nor blindness, nor desire of salvation, nor of the Shepherd"s care or grace. They will not go to him for life. They can make nothing of his enigmatic words. They take counsel against him. Their misconception contrasts strongly with the susceptibility of the broken-hearted penitents. So far the parable or proverb corresponds with the parables of the kingdom in the synoptic Gospels, and is open to many interpretations.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 6. This parable spake Jesus unto them. The Greek…
6. This parable spake Jesus unto them. The Greek word rendered here “parable” is not so rendered elsewhere. It is rather a simile.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.