He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
Parallel Translations
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He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
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He sayde to him agayne the seconde tyme: Simon Ioana lovest thou me? He sayde vnto him: ye lorde thou knowest that I love the. He sayde vnto him: fede my shepe.
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He said to him againe the second time, Simon the sonne of Iona, louest thou me? He said vnto him, Yea Lord, thou knowest that I loue thee. He said vnto him, Feede my sheepe.
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to John 21:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Acts 20:28 Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood.
- 1 Peter 5:2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, not for dishonest gain, but willingly;
- 1 Peter 2:25 For you were going astray like sheep; but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
- Psalms 100:3 Know that Yahweh, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
- John 10:11-16 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them. The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn’t care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own; even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd.
- Psalms 95:7 for he is our God. We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep in his care. Today, oh that you would hear his voice!
- Zechariah 13:7 “Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says Yahweh of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
- Matthew 2:6 ‘You Bethlehem, land of Judah, are in no way least among the princes of Judah: for out of you shall come a governor, who shall shepherd my people, Israel.’ ”
- Matthew 25:32 Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
- Matthew 26:72 Again he denied it with an oath, “I don’t know the man.”
- Luke 15:3-7 He told them this parable. “Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.
- Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
- John 18:17 Then the maid who kept the door said to Peter, “Are you also one of this man’s disciples?” He said, “I am not.”
- John 18:25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said therefore to him, “You aren’t also one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.”
- Hebrews 13:20 Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus,
- John 10:26-27 But you don’t believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
- Revelation 7:17 for the Lamb who is in the middle of the throne shepherds them and leads them to springs of life-giving waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 16. Feed my sheep. Christ does not give to…
16. Feed my sheep. Christ does not give to Peter and others the office of feeding all sorts of persons, but only his sheep or his lambs. He elsewhere describes who they are whom he reckons to belong to his flock.
My sheep, says he, hear my voice, and follow me; they hear not the voice of a stranger, (John 10:5, 27.)
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True, faithful teachers ought to endeavor to gather all to Christ; and as they cannot distinguish between sheep and wild beasts, they ought to try by all methods if they can tame those who resemble wolves rather than sheep. But after having put forth their utmost efforts, their labor will be of no avail to any but the elect sheep; for docility and faith arise from this, that the heavenly Father delivers to his Son, that they may obey him, those whom he elected before the creation of the world. Again, we are taught by this passage, that none can be fed to salvation by the doctrine of the Gospel but those who are mild and teachable; for it is not without reason that Christ compares his disciples to lambs and sheep; but it must also be observed, that the Spirit of God tames those who by nature were bears or lions.
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.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 16 He saith to him again the second time,…
16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
Ver. 16. Feed my sheep] That is, Supremum is Ecclesia Dominium tibi assere. Lord it over the Church, saith Baronius. Regio more impera, reign as a king, saith Bellarmine. Christ, on the contrary, saith, The kings of nations exercise dominion over them, but ye shall not do so. And Peter himself saith to his fellow elders, Feed the flock of God, not as lording it over God’s heritage, 1Pe 5:2-3. Indeed ποιμαινω, here used, sometimes signifies to govern (usually to feed), but βοσκω, the other word twice used here in this text, always signifies to feed. But they catch at government, let go feeding. It is as rare a thing to hear a bishop preach among them, said Dr. Bassinet, as to see an ass fly. Fisco potius apud multos consulitur quam Christo; attonsiona potius gregis quam attentioni.
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 Divines here raise a question, why our Saviour propounds…
Divines here raise a question, why our Saviour propounds this question thrice to Peter. The most of the ancients agree, that it was because Peter had thrice denied him. Some say, it was to show his great love to his church, which he could not commit to Peter but after three inquiries if he truly loved him, who was the Lord of it. Others refer it to the three ways by which good pastors ought to feed the church; prayer, preaching, and a holy life. Others think, that it hath reference to the three flocks that Peter was to feed; the Jews in Judea, the Gentiles, the dispersed amongst the Gentiles.
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 He saith unto him again the second time,.... Willing…
He saith unto him again the second time,.... Willing to have the expressions of his love repeated and confirmed;
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? he leaves out the words, "more than these", though Nonnus expresses them; he saw Peter's heart, and observed the modesty of his answer, and would not urge him any more in that comparative way, only required a repetition of his sincere and hearty love to him:
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he saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee; expressing himself in the same language as before; and it is, as if he should say, Lord, what can I say more? I can say no more than I have done, and by that I abide:
he saith unto him, feed my sheep; both the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and his other sheep among the Gentiles, whom the Father had given him, and he had paid a price for, and must be brought in; these being called, he would have fed with the word and ordinances, with the bread of life, and water of life, not lorded over, and fleeced, and much less worried and destroyed; every instance of care and love shown to these, he takes as a mark of affection and respect to himself.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Joh 21:16-17. He saith unto him again the second…
Joh 21:16-17. He saith unto him again the second (and even the third) time, Simon, &c., lovest thou me? — Doubtless with a view to impress the importance of the question with the greater force on his mind; and perhaps, also, to remind Peter of his having thrice denied him, and thereby given him cause to question the sincerity of his love. But at these two latter times, Christ leaves out the words more than these: because Peter, in his answer, had modestly left them out. Observe, reader, though we cannot say we love Christ more than others do, yet we shall be accepted if we can say we love him indeed. This Peter professes to do again and again, confidently affirming, Yea, or surely, Lord, I love thee. He had a high esteem and value for his Lord; a grateful sense of his kindness; and was entirely devoted to his honour and interest; his desire was toward him, as one he should be undone without; and his delight in him, as one he should be unspeakably happy in. And let it be remembered, those who can truly say that they love the Lord Jesus, may take to themselves the comfort arising from an assurance of their having an interest in him, notwithstanding their daily infirmities. It deserves our notice here, that Peter could appeal to Christ himself for the proof of his love, saying once and again, Thou knowest that I love thee; and the third time, speaking yet more emphatically, Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. He doth not vouch his fellow-disciples to witness for him; they might be deceived in him; nor doth he think his own word might be taken; the credit of that was more than shaken already: but he calls Christ himself to witness. Happy they that, on good grounds, can do the same! He saith unto him, Feed my sheep — The word rendered feed in the preceding verse, and in Joh 21:17 th βοσκε, properly means to give food; but the word here used, ποιμαινε, implies more largely to do all the offices of a shepherd, namely, to guide, watch, and defend the sheep, as well as to feed them. “From our Lord’s asking Peter if he loved him, before he gave him commission to feed his lambs and his sheep, it is justly inferred, that to render men duly qualified for the ministerial function, they must prefer the interest and honour of Christ to every other consideration whatever. This is the great qualification by which alone a minister can be animated to go through the labours and difficulties of his office, and be fortified against the dangers which may attend it. Moreover, Christ’s exhortation to Peter to feed his lambs and sheep, being the reply which he made to Peter’s declaration that he loved him, shows us that ministers best testify their love to Christ by their singular care and diligence in feeding his flock. Our Lord’s three-fold repetition of his commission to Peter, was probably in allusion to Peter’s three denials; and as it contains an oblique intimation that his repentance should bear some proportion to his sin, so it seems to have been intended by our Lord to convince the rest of the disciples of the sincerity of Peter’s conversion, and to prevent any slight which he might be exposed to from their suspecting the contrary. However, we are told that Peter was grieved at this repeated application to him: 1st, Because it seemed to him an intimation that Christ doubted the sincerity of his repentance; and to a person of his sanguine temper, nothing could have afforded a more sensible anguish than such a suggestion. 2d, It recalled his crime, with all its aggravating circumstances, into his mind; it renewed his grief for having offended, and it increased that grief from a consideration that he had given sufficient grounds for suspecting his fidelity, even after his conversion. 3d, It put him in fear lest his Master foresaw some further misconduct of his, which would be as great a contradiction to his professions of love to him as the former was. One would wonder that from circumstances so evidently humiliating to the mind of Peter, the Papists could have inferred a grant to him of supreme dominion over the church, clergy as well as laity; as if a charge to serve the sheep, gave a power to lord it over all the shepherds. The passage has doubtless a quite different meaning; for Peter, by his late cowardice and perfidy, having, as it were, abdicated the apostleship, was hereby no more than formally restored to his office, through the indulgence of his kind and merciful Master; and not raised to any new dignity above his brethren.” See Macknight, and Tillotson’s Works.
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 Feed my sheep - The word here rendered “feed,”…
Feed my sheep - The word here rendered “feed,” as has been remarked, is different from the word in the previous verse. It has the sense of governing, caring for, guiding, protecting - the kind of faithful vigilance which a shepherd uses to guide his flock, and to make provision against their wants and dangers. It may be implied here that the care needed for the young in the church is to instruct them, and for those in advanced years both to instruct and govern them.
My sheep - This term commonly denotes the church in general, without respect to age, John 10.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain The lambs and the sheep of our Saviour here…
The lambs and the sheep of our Saviour here mean the faithful, who compose his Church, without any distinction of Jew or Gentile. St. Peter, by these words, is appointed to take charge of the whole flock, as being the chief and prince of the apostles. He is, in some manner, the pastor, not of the sheep only, but of the pastors themselves. They have each their own flock to look after; but to him is committed the care of all; he alone is the pastor of all. (Calmet) --- Feed my sheep. Our Lord had promised the spiritual supremacy to St. Peter; (St. Matthew xvi. 19.) and here he fulfils that promise, by charging him with the superintendency of all his sheep, without exception; and consequently of his whole flock, that is, of his whole Church. (Challoner)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain He saith to him . . . the second…
He saith to him . . . the second time . . . lovest thou me, &c.--In this repetition of the question, though the wound was meant to be reopened, the words "more than these" are not repeated; for Christ is a tender as well as skilful Physician, and Peter's silence on that point was confession enough of his sin and folly. On Peter's repeating his protestation in the same words, our Lord rises higher in the manifestation of His restoring grace.
Feed--keep.
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my sheep--It has been observed that the word here is studiously changed, from one signifying simply to feed, to one signifying to tend as a shepherd, denoting the abiding exercise of that vocation, and in its highest functions.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 16. Lovest thou me?—Jesus still uses the moral term…
16. Lovest thou me?—Jesus still uses the moral term for love, and omits the comparison which Peter had declined to accept. Peter still refers to Jesus’s knowledge, and again uses the affectional term for love. Thus: Prizest thou me? Answer: Thou knowest I love thee.
Feed my sheep— Rather shepherd my sheeplings. Before the word was to feed; now it is to perform the whole shepherd’s office. Before it was lambs; now the Greek word for young and not full-grown sheep is used.
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 16. lovest thou me?] Jesus drops the ‘more than…
16. lovest thou me?] Jesus drops the ‘more than these,’ which the humbled Apostle had shrunk from answering, but retains His own word for ‘love.’ S. Peter answers exactly as before.
Feed my sheep] Better, Tend, or shepherd, My sheep. The word rendered ‘feed’ in Joh_21:15; Joh_21:17 (boskein) means ‘supply with food.’ Comp. Mat_8:30; Mat_8:33; Mar_5:11; Mar_5:14; Luk_8:32; Luk_8:34; Luk_15:15 (the only other passages where the word occurs in N.T.) of the feeding of the herd of swine. The word used here (poimainein) means rather ‘be shepherd to.’ It is used literally Luk_17:7; 1Co_9:7; and figuratively Mat_2:6; Act_20:28; 1Pe_5:2. Comp. Judges 12; Rev_2:27; Rev_7:17; Rev_12:5; Rev_19:15. Tending implies more of guidance and government than feeding does. The lambs, which can go no distance, scarcely require guidance, their chief need is food. The sheep require both.
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 (16) He saith to him again the second time.—The…
(16) He saith to him again the second time.—The question is repeated in exactly the same form, except that our Lord does not continue the comparison “more than these.” He uses the same word for the higher, more intellectual love, and Peter replies by the same declaration of personal attachment, and the same appeal to his Master’s knowledge of him.
Feed my sheep.—Better, be a shepherd of My sheep. The Vatican and Paris MSS. read “little sheep” here, and in the following verse. (See Note there.)
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 He saith to him again the second time, Simon,…
He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas (John), lovest thou me? Here our Lord omits, as Peter had done, the "more than these," but he again, with perhaps deeper meaning, uses the word agapav . Dost thou render me even more in one sense, though less in another, of thy heart"s reverence? Dost thou treat me with the confidence and esteem, submission and admiration, which are my due? Again Peter, with his heart bursting with personal affection, feels that he can and must say, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee (filw ere; i.e. love thee dearly). The commission that follows is the second stage of pastoral office. He saith to him, Tend ("act the part of shepherd") my sheep. Christ is the "good Shepherd," and, as Peter puts it in 1Pe_5:4, the "chief Shepherd." He has laid down his life with a view of taking it again, and ever after discharging the functions of the Shepherd. He means to bring all the "sheep" into one flock. They shall all hear his voice, and receive from him everlasting life. Meanwhile the leader of the apostles is made to appreciate that love is the condition of all healthy guidance. Faculty for rule is part of the very nature of the pastoral care. The sheep will need this even more than the "lambs;" the old disciples will require, even more than the young converts, both direction and command In this respect the subsequent career of Peter was more conspicuous than that of the rest of the apostles. (Rev_2:27 Rev_7:17 Act_20:28 1Pe_5:2 for the use of the word) But the shepherding of the sheep is an essentially necessary and integral portion of every pastor"s care. When assailed by the wolf of heresy, by the hostile marauder, by new conditions of any kind, by special danger, unless he can in self-forgetting love pilot and protect his flock, he is no true shepherd.
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 16. Feed my sheep. A second time the Lord…
16. Feed my sheep. A second time the Lord probes Peter with the question. Let it be noted that he does not call him Peter, “the rock,” any longer. So frail a disciple could only be called Simon. The Christ again commissions him to work, “Feed my sheep.” Not only the lambs, but he may look after the sheep of the fold, watch over the disciples of the Lord, young and old. Three times Peter had denied the Master; three times the Master questions his love; three times he gives him charge concerning his work. The questioning was painful, Peter was grieved, but the grief was wholesome, and Peter's whole subsequent life bore proof of the discipline. His rashness was forever gone.
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.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain lovest (Greek - καταφιλέω, deeply love; used of divine…
lovest (Greek - καταφιλέω, deeply love; used of divine love Joh 14:21 and of that love which the law demands Luk 10:27
love (Greek - καταφιλέω, am fond of). It is a lesser degree of love than agapas.
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Feed tend; 1Pe 5:1-3
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.