Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
Parallel translations
- WEB Go your ways. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.
- KJV Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.
- NKJV Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.
- NASB Go; behold, I am sending you out like lambs in the midst of wolves.
- NLT Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.
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
Jesus sends them out as lambs among wolves. Mission carries real danger, yet the sent ones go under His authority.
Overview
The image of lambs among wolves frankly warns of hostility and vulnerability in the work. The messengers go not in their own strength but as those sent by the Lord. This sober realism prepares disciples to expect opposition while trusting the One who sends them.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Matt 10:16Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
- Acts 20:29I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.
- Ezek 2:3–6“Son of man,” He said to me, “I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me. To this very day they and their fathers have rebelled against Me.
- John 15:20Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.
- Matt 10:22You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.
- John 10:12The 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.
- John 16:2They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.
- Matt 7:15Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
- Zeph 3:3Her princes are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves, leaving nothing for the morning.
- Ps 22:12–16Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
- Acts 9:2and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
- Acts 9:16I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.”
- Ps 22:21Save me from the mouth of the lion; at the horns of the wild oxen You have answered me!
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 10:3 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.