All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
Parallel translations
- WEB Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
- KJV And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
- BSB All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
- NASB And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;
- NLT All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
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
All nations are gathered before him and he separates them as a shepherd divides sheep from goats. Christ judges every person, dividing humanity decisively.
Overview
Every nation stands before the King, and he separates people with the ease and authority of a shepherd. The sheep-and-goats image conveys a clear, final division based on his judgment. No one is overlooked in this universal assize. It underscores that all people are accountable to Christ and will be sorted according to their true standing before him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Mal 3:18Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn’t serve him.
- Matt 13:49So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous,
- 2 Cor 5:10For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
- Ps 98:9Let them sing before Yahweh, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.
- Ezek 34:17–22As for you, O my flock, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, the rams and the male goats.
- Matt 3:12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
- Ps 96:13before Yahweh; for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, the peoples with his truth.
- Rev 20:12–15I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
- Ps 1:5Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
- Ps 50:3–5Our God comes, and does not keep silent. A fire devours before him. It is very stormy around him.
- John 10:14I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own;
- Matt 13:42–43and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
- 1 Cor 4:5Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God.
- Rom 14:10–12But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
- Rom 2:12For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
- Rom 2:16in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ.
- Ezek 20:38I will purge out from among you the rebels, and those who disobey against me. I will bring them out of the land where they live, but they shall not enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.”
- John 10:27My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
- Acts 17:30–31The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent,
- Ps 78:52But he led out his own people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 25:32 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
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