The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.
Parallel translations
- WEB The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, just as it was told them.
- KJV And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
- BSB The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, which was just as the angel had told them.
- NKJV Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.
- NASB And the shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.
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 shepherds return glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard. It matters because rightly receiving Christ leads to worship.
Overview
The shepherds go back to their work praising God, having found everything as it was told them. Their experience of the Savior produces sustained worship. The episode closes with the lowly shepherds glorifying God, foreshadowing the praise the gospel rightly evokes.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 106:48Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting! Let all the people say, “Amen.” Praise Yah!
- Ps 72:17–19His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed.
- Acts 11:18When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life!”
- 1 Chr 29:10–12Therefore David blessed Yahweh before all the assembly; and David said, “You are blessed, Yahweh, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever.
- Isa 29:19The humble also will increase their joy in Yahweh, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
- Acts 2:46–47Day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart,
- Luke 19:37–38As he was now getting near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works which they had seen,
- Matt 9:8But when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
- Ps 107:21Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds to the children of men!
- Luke 18:43Immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw it, praised God.
- Ps 107:8Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds to the children of men!
- Ps 107:15Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds to the children of men!
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 2:20 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.