Luke 2:18

Greek (Tischendorf 8th ed.)

English Translation

All who heard it wondered at the things which were spoken to them by the shepherds.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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ποιμένων

poimḗn

G4166

“shepherd”

Noun, Genitive, Plural, Masculine

Appears 18× in the Greek New Testament
First appears at Matthew 9:36

Full Thayer's Definition

Origin: of uncertain affinity

TDNT: 14:05,9

1. a herdsman, esp. a shepherd a. in the parable, he to whose care and control others have committed themselves, and whose precepts they follow 2. metaph. a. the presiding officer, manager, director, of any assembly: so of Christ the Head of the church 1. of the overseers of the Christian assemblies 2. of kings and princes The tasks of a Near Eastern shepherd were: - to watch for enemies trying to attack the sheep - to defend the sheep from attackers - to heal the wounded and sick sheep - to find and save lost or trapped sheep - to love them, sharing their lives and so earning their trust.

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

13: words
11: distinct lemmas
Gospels: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is ποιμένων shepherd G4166 — appearing just 18 times in the whole Greek New Testament.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

ποιμένων shepherd G4166 occurs in 17 verses of the Greek New Testament. Also found in:

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse:

οἱ the G3588 ×3

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Luke 2:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Luke 1:65–66 Fear came on all who lived around them, and all these sayings were talked about throughout all the hill country of Judea.
Luke 2:33 Joseph and his mother were marveling at the things which were spoken concerning him,
Luke 2:47 All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.
Luke 4:36 Amazement came on all, and they spoke together, one with another, saying, "What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!"
Luke 5:9–10 For he was amazed, and all who were with him, at the catch of fish which they had caught;
Isaiah 8:18 Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Yahweh of Hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Commentary

Notes on Luke 2:18 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Expositor's Greek Testament

ed. W. Robertson Nicoll

Luk 2:18-19 . The shepherds of course told what they had seen in Bethlehem, and how they had been led to go there, and these verses state the effect produced by their story. All wondered , but Mary thought on all the wonderful things that had happened to herself and to the shepherds; keeping them well in mind ( συνετήρει ), and putting them together ( συμβάλλουσα , conferens , Vulg [26] ), so as to see what they all meant. The wonder of the many was a transient emotion (aorist); this recollecting and brooding of Mary was an abiding habit ( συνετήρει , imperfect).

[26] Vulgate (Jerome’s revision of old Latin version).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And all they that heard it,.... What the shepherds related of what they had heard from the angel, and from Joseph and Mary, and what they had seen themselves,

wondered at those things that were told them by the shepherds: for though they expected the Messiah, and that he would be born at Bethlehem, yet they did not imagine that he would be born of such mean parents, and appear in such mean circumstances, and in so contemptible a place; and that shepherds, and not the princes of Israel, should have the first notice of it; and yet the account which these shepherd, who were plain hearted men, and could never be thought to invent such a story, and spread it, and impose on men, without any interest in it, was very surprising; so that they knew not what to say to it, neither to deny, nor believe it; accordingly, the Persic version renders the whole thus, "and whoever heard, wondering, stuck at it"; hesitated about it, and yet astonished at the particulars of it; just as Christ's hearers were in Luk 4:22 who wondered at his ministry, and the manner of it, and yet objected the meanness of his parentage and education.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

Ver. 18. Wondered at those things] Yet made little benefit of what they heard. "All the world wondered after the beast," Rev 13:3. And it was a wonder there was no more wondering at the birth of our Saviour; if that were true especially, that (besides the wise men’s star, Mat 2:8-11, and the angelic music in the air, &c.) among the Gentiles a voice was heard, The great God is now about to be born; and that at Rome, the likeness of a woman carrying a child in her arms was seen about the sun, &c. These things are told. Polydore Virgil reports out of Orosius, that on the very day of Christ’s nativity, Augustus Caesar caused proclamation that no man should style him Lord any longer, Manifesto praesagio maioris Dominatus, qui tum in terris ortus esset; as presaging a greater than himself then born.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

18. All they—The Bethlehemites wondered at those statements of the angelic ministrations related by the shepherds.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

International Critical Commentary

18. πάντες οἱ ἀκούσαντες. See on 1:66. This probably includes subsequent hearers, just as ver. 19 includes a time subsequent to the departure of the shepherds. The constr. ἐθαύμασαν περί is unusual. But in English “about,” which is common after “perplexed,” might easily be transferred to such a word as “astonished.”

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Luke, in the Gospels, opens this verse with 13 words (11 distinct Greek lemmas). Its most distinctive word is poimḗn (“shepherd”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “shepherd” (poimḗn) shape what this verse is saying?
Matthew 9:36 shares the word «shepherd» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“the” occurs 3× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
Reading how Expositor's Greek Testament and John Gill's Exposition read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 9 words in this verse.
“the” occurs 3× in this single verse.
11 distinct Greek lemmas span 13 words in this verse.