Go; behold, I am sending you out like lambs in the midst of 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.
- BSB Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
- NKJV Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among 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 10:16“Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
- Acts 20:29For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
- Ezek 2:3–6He said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day.
- John 15:20Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
- Matt 10:22You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.
- John 10:12He 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.
- John 16:2They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.
- Matt 7:15“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.
- Zeph 3:3Her princes within her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day.
- Ps 22:12–16Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.
- Acts 9:2and asked for letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
- Acts 9:16For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
- Ps 22:21Save me from the lion’s mouth! Yes, from 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.