My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
Parallel translations
- WEB My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
- BSB My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
- NKJV My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
- NASB My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
- NLT for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Father, who gave the sheep to Jesus, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from His hand. The believer is held securely by both the Son and the Father.
Overview
Jesus grounds the security of His people in the supreme power of the Father who entrusted them to Him. The double assurance of the Son's hand and the Father's hand makes their safety doubly certain. Election and preservation are presented together as the Father's gracious work.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- John 6:37All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
- John 17:2As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
- John 17:9I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
- John 14:28Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
- Mal 1:14But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the LORD a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.
- John 17:6I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
- John 17:11And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
- Exod 18:11Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them.
- Dan 4:3How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.
- Ps 145:3Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.
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Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 10:29 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.