Bible Strands
Matthew 9:36
When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus, alone in the narrative, observes the crowds he has been teaching, preaching, and healing through the towns and villages of Galilee (9:35). No one is addressed; the verse records his internal response before he speaks to the disciples in 9:37.
The words — ἐσπλαγχνίσθη (esplagchnisthē) is a rare verb meaning literally "he was moved in the entrails," a physical, gut-level reaction rather than a calm intellectual pity. It appears only a handful of times in the New Testament and marks the strongest register of compassion in Greek.
The thread — Mark 6:34 repeats the identical image in the parallel feeding narrative. Jeremiah 50:6 supplies the prophetic backdrop: Israel as lost sheep whose shepherds have led them astray, and Numbers 27:17 records Moses asking God for a shepherd to replace him.
Why it lands — The diagnosis is not that the crowds are ignorant or sinful but that they are leaderless; the problem is structural absence, not individual defect. The verse asks the reader to name the specific condition that triggers compassion rather than resting on a general feeling of pity.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
Cross-references
- Numbers 27:17 who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”
- Mark 6:34 When Jesus stepped ashore and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.
- Jeremiah 50:6 My people are lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, causing them to roam the mountains. They have wandered from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.
- Ezekiel 34:3 You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened sheep, but you do not feed the flock.
- Matthew 14:14 When He stepped ashore and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick.
- Zechariah 10:2 For idols speak deceit and diviners see illusions; they tell false dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep, oppressed for lack of a shepherd.
- 2 Chronicles 18:16 So Micaiah declared: “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These people have no master; let each one return home in peace.’”
- Matthew 10:6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.
- Matthew 15:24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
- 1 Kings 22:17 So Micaiah declared: “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These people have no master; let each one return home in peace.’”