He led out His people like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.
Parallel translations
- WEB But he led out his own people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
- KJV But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
- NKJV But He made His own people go forth like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
- NASB But He led His own people out like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
- NLT But he led his own people like a flock of sheep, guiding them safely through the wilderness.
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
God led His people out like sheep and guided them like a flock. He shepherded Israel through the wilderness.
Overview
In contrast to judgment on Egypt, God 'led out his own people like sheep,' tenderly guiding them. The shepherd imagery portrays His personal, caring leadership. It anticipates Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who leads and lays down His life for His sheep (John 10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 77:20You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
- Neh 9:12You led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they should travel.
- John 10:11–42I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
- Isa 63:11–14Then His people remembered the days of old, the days of Moses. Where is He who brought them through the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is the One who set His Holy Spirit among them,
- Ps 95:7For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep under His care. Today, if you hear His voice,
- Ps 105:37He brought Israel out with silver and gold, and none among His tribes stumbled.
- Luke 15:4–6“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?
- Ps 100:3Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
- Isa 40:11He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.
- Ezek 34:11–31For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I Myself will search for My flock and seek them out.
- Jer 23:2–4Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your deeds, declares the LORD.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 78:52 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 Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.