KJV: This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.
YLT: This similitude spake Jesus to them, and they knew not what the things were that he was speaking to them;
Darby: This allegory spoke Jesus to them, but they did not know what it was of which he spoke to them.
ASV: This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.
Ταύτην | This |
Parse: Demonstrative Pronoun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: οὗτος Sense: this. |
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τὴν | - |
Parse: Article, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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παροιμίαν | allegory |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: παροιμία Sense: a saying out of the usual course or deviating from the usual manner of speaking. |
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εἶπεν | spoke |
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: λέγω Sense: to speak, say. |
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αὐτοῖς | to them |
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative Masculine 3rd Person Plural Root: αὐτός Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself. |
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ὁ | - |
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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Ἰησοῦς | Jesus |
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: Ἰησοῦς Sense: Joshua was the famous captain of the Israelites, Moses’ successor. |
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δὲ | however |
Parse: Conjunction Root: δέ Sense: but, moreover, and, etc. |
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ἔγνωσαν | knew |
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural Root: γινώσκω Sense: to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of perceive, feel. |
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ἦν | it was |
Parse: Verb, Imperfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: εἰμί Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present. |
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ἃ | that |
Parse: Personal / Relative Pronoun, Accusative Neuter Plural Root: ὅς Sense: who, which, what, that. |
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ἐλάλει | He was saying |
Parse: Verb, Imperfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: ἀπολαλέω Sense: to utter a voice or emit a sound. |
Greek Commentary for John 10:6
Old word for proverb from παρα para (beside) and οιμος oimos way, a wayside saying or saying by the way. As a proverb in N.T. in 2 Peter 2:22 (quotation from Proverbs 26:11), as a symbolic or figurative saying in John 16:25, John 16:29, as an allegory in John 10:6. Nowhere else in the N.T. Curiously enough in the N.T. παραβολη parabolē occurs only in the Synoptics outside of Hebrews 9:9; Hebrews 11:19. Both are in the lxx. Παραβολη Parabolē is used as a proverb (Luke 4:23) just as παροιμια paroimia is in 2 Peter 2:22. Here clearly παροιμια paroimia means an allegory which is one form of the parable. So there you are. Jesus spoke this παροιμια paroimia to the Pharisees, “but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them” Second aorist active indicative of γινωσκω ginōskō and note ην ēn in indirect question as in John 2:25 and both the interrogative τινα tina and the relative α ha “Spake” (imperfect ελαλει elalei) should be “Was speaking or had been speaking.” [source]
The word occurs but once outside of John's writings (2 Peter 2:22). The usual word for parable is παραβολή , which is once rendered proverb in the A.V. (Luke 4:23, changed to parable by Rev.), and which occurs nowhere in John. For the distinction see on Matthew 13:3. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for John 10:6
It was not the first time that Jesus had used parables, but the first time that he had spoken so many and some of such length. He will use a great many in the future as in Luke 12 to 18 and Matt. 24 and 25. The parables already mentioned in Matthew include the salt and the light (Matthew 5:13-16), the birds and the lilies (Matthew 6:26-30), the splinter and the beam in the eye (Matthew 7:3-5), the two gates (Matthew 13:3-8.), the wolves in sheep‘s clothing (Matthew 7:15), the good and bad trees (Matthew 7:17-19), the wise and foolish builders (Matthew 7:24-27), the garment and the wineskins (Matthew 9:16.), the children in the market places (Matthew 11:16.). It is not certain how many he spoke on this occasion. Matthew mentions eight in this chapter (the Sower, the Tares, the Mustard Seed, the Leaven, the Hid Treasure, the Pearl of Great Price, the Net, the Householder). Mark adds the Parable of the Lamp (Mark 4:21; Luke 8:16), the Parable of the Seed Growing of Itself (Mark 4:26-29), making ten of which we know. But both Mark (Mark 4:33) and Matthew (Matthew 13:34) imply that there were many others. “Without a parable spake he nothing unto them” (Matthew 13:34), on this occasion, we may suppose. The word parable There are parables in the Old Testament, in the Talmud, in sermons in all ages. But no one has spoken such parables as these of Jesus. They hold the mirror up to nature and, as all illustrations should do, throw light on the truth presented. The fable puts things as they are not in nature, Aesop‘s Fables, for instance. The parable may not be actual fact, but it could be so. It is harmony with the nature of the case. The allegory John does not use the word parable, but only παροιμια paroimia a saying by the way (John 10:6; John 16:25, John 16:29). As a rule the parables of Jesus illustrate one main point and the details are more or less incidental, though sometimes Jesus himself explains these. When he does not do so, we should be slow to interpret the minor details. Much heresy has come from fantastic interpretations of the parables. In the case of the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 7:13) we have also the careful exposition of the story by Jesus (Matthew 13:18-23) as well as the reason for the use of parables on this occasion by Jesus (Matthew 13:9-17). [source]
Solemn prelude by repetition as in John 1:51. The words do not ever introduce a fresh topic (cf. John 8:34, John 8:51, John 8:58). So in John 10:7. The Pharisees had previously assumed (Vincent) they alone were the authoritative guides of the people (John 9:24, John 9:29). So Jesus has a direct word for them. So Jesus begins this allegory in a characteristic way. John does not use the word παροιμια parabolē but εις την αυλην των προβατων paroimia (John 10:6), and it really is an allegory of the Good Shepherd and self-explanatory like that of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. He first tells it in John 10:1-5 and then explains and expands it in John 10:7-18. Into the fold of the sheep (αυλη eis tēn aulēn tōn probatōn). Originally αω aulē (from αναβαινων aō to blow) in Homer‘s time was just an uncovered space around the house enclosed by a wall, then a roofless enclosure in the country where flocks were herded as here and John 10:16. It later came to mean the house itself or palace (Matthew 26:3, Matthew 26:58, etc.). In the papyri it means the court attached to the house. Climbeth up (αναβαινω anabainōn). Present active participle of αλλαχοτεν anabainō to go up. One who goes up, not by the door, has to climb up over the wall. Some other way (αλλοτεν allachothen). Rare word for old εκεινος allothen but in 4Macc 1:7 and in a papyrus. Only here in N.T. The same (κλεπτης εστιν και ληιστης ekeinos). “That one” just described. Is a thief and a robber (κλεπτω kleptēs estin kai lēistēs). Both old and common words (from ληιζομαι kleptō to steal, κλεπτης lēizomai to plunder). The distinction is preserved in the N.T. as here. Judas was a kleptēs (John 12:6), Barabbas a robber (John 18:40) like the two robbers (Matthew 27:38, Matthew 27:44) crucified with Jesus erroneously termed thieves like “the thief on the cross” by most people. See Mark 11:17. Here the man jumping over the wall comes to steal and to do it by violence like a bandit. He is both thief and robber. [source]
Old word for proverb from παρα para (beside) and οιμος oimos way, a wayside saying or saying by the way. As a proverb in N.T. in 2 Peter 2:22 (quotation from Proverbs 26:11), as a symbolic or figurative saying in John 16:25, John 16:29, as an allegory in John 10:6. Nowhere else in the N.T. Curiously enough in the N.T. παραβολη parabolē occurs only in the Synoptics outside of Hebrews 9:9; Hebrews 11:19. Both are in the lxx. Παραβολη Parabolē is used as a proverb (Luke 4:23) just as παροιμια paroimia is in 2 Peter 2:22. Here clearly παροιμια paroimia means an allegory which is one form of the parable. So there you are. Jesus spoke this παροιμια paroimia to the Pharisees, “but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them” Second aorist active indicative of γινωσκω ginōskō and note ην ēn in indirect question as in John 2:25 and both the interrogative τινα tina and the relative α ha “Spake” (imperfect ελαλει elalei) should be “Was speaking or had been speaking.” [source]
See note on John 10:6 for this word. Shall tell Future active of απαγγελλω apaggellō to report, correct text and not αναγγελω anaggelō (John 16:13, John 16:14, John 16:15), as in 1 John 1:2. Plainly See note on John 7:13 for this word. [source]
No wayside saying, no dark saying. See John 10:6; John 16:25. [source]