And there were shepherds residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night.
Parallel translations
- WEB There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
- KJV And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
- NKJV Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.
- NASB In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock at night.
- NLT That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep.
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
Shepherds were watching their flocks by night nearby. It matters because God chose to announce the Savior's birth first to the lowly.
Overview
Luke introduces shepherds keeping watch in the fields outside Bethlehem. Shepherds were ordinary, often looked-down-upon laborers. That the angelic announcement comes first to them displays God's grace toward the humble and reflects the gospel's reach to the lowly rather than the elite.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Gen 31:39–40I did not bring you anything torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or night.
- Ps 78:70–71He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds;
- 1 Sam 17:34–35David replied, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep, and whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock,
- John 10:8–12All who came before Me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
- Exod 3:1–2Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
- Ezek 34:8‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because My flock lacks a shepherd and has become prey and food for every wild beast, and because My shepherds did not search for My flock but fed themselves instead,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 2:8 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.