Jesus spoke to them using this illustration, but they did not understand what He was telling them.
Parallel translations
- WEB Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they didn’t understand what he was telling them.
- KJV This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.
- NKJV Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
- NASB Jesus told them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what the things which He was saying to them meant.
- NLT Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant,
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
John notes that Jesus' hearers did not understand this figure of speech. Their incomprehension reflects their spiritual blindness.
Overview
This editorial comment marks the saying as a 'figure' or extended illustration rather than a straightforward parable. The leaders' failure to grasp it echoes the theme of seeing yet not perceiving. Their confusion prompts Jesus to explain the imagery more plainly.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Isa 56:11Like ravenous dogs, they are never satisfied. They are shepherds with no discernment; they all turn to their own way, each one seeking his own gain:
- Prov 28:5Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD comprehend fully.
- Ps 82:5They do not know or understand; they wander in the darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
- John 16:25I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you this way, but will tell you plainly about the Father.
- Ps 106:7Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp Your wonders or remember Your abundant kindness; but they rebelled by the sea, there at the Red Sea.
- Isa 6:9–10And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
- Matt 13:51Have you understood all these things?” “Yes,” they answered.
- Dan 12:10Many will be purified, made spotless, and refined, but the wicked will continue to act wickedly. None of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand.
- Matt 13:13–14This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’
- 1 Cor 2:14The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- 1 Jn 5:20And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
- John 6:60On hearing it, many of His disciples said, “This is a difficult teaching. Who can accept it?”
- John 7:36What does He mean by saying, ‘You will look for Me, but you will not find Me,’ and, ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”
- John 6:52At this, the Jews began to argue among themselves, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”
- John 8:43Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message.
- John 8:27They did not understand that He was telling them about the Father.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 10:6 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.