the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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New Century Version
Luke 2:8
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That night, some shepherds were out in the fields near Bethlehem watching their sheep.
And ther were in the same region shepherdes abydinge in the felde and watching their flocke by nyght.
There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, watching their flock during the night.
In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock at night.
And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
In the same region there were shepherds staying out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
And there were in the same country shepherds, lying out in the field, and keeping watch over their flock by night.
Now there were shepherds in the same part of the country, keeping watch over their sheep by night in the open fields,
And scheepherdis weren in the same cuntre, wakynge and kepynge the watchis of the nyyt on her flok.
And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
And there were shepherds residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night.
That night in the fields near Bethlehem some shepherds were guarding their sheep.
And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
And in the same country there were keepers of sheep in the fields, watching over their flock by night.
In the countryside nearby were some shepherds spending the night in the fields, guarding their flocks,
And there were shepherds in that country abiding without, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
But there were shepherds in the country who were staying there, and keeping watch by night over their flocks.
And there were shepherds in that region, who abode there and kept watch of their flocks by night.
And there were in the same countrey shepheards abiding in ye field, keeping watch ouer their flocke by night.
That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep.
In the same country there were shepherds in the fields. They were watching their flocks of sheep at night.
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And there were in the same countrey shepheards, abiding in the fielde, and keeping watch by night ouer their flocke.
Now there were shepherds in that region, where they were staying, and they were watching their flocks at night.
And there were, shepherds, in the same country, dwelling in the fields, and keeping the watches of the night over their flock.
And there were in the same country shepherds watching and keeping the night watches over their flock.
And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
There were in ye same countrey sheepheardes, abydyng in the fielde, & watchyng their flocke by nyght.
There were some shepherds in that part of the country who were spending the night in the fields, taking care of their flocks.
In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And there were shepherds in the same region, living out of doors and keeping watch, guarding over their flock by night.
And shepherds were in the same country living in the fields and keeping guard over their flock by night.
And there were shepherds in the same region, lodging in the field, and keeping the night-watches over their flock,
And there were in ye same region shepherdes in the felde by the foldes, and watchinge their flocke by night.
In that country there were shepherds lying in the open fields, taking their turns to watch the stock in the night;
There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God's angel stood among them and God's glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, "Don't be afraid. I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David's town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you're to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger."
Now there were shepherds nearby living out in the field, keeping guard over their flock at night.
Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.
That night, there were some cowboys on night watch near Bethlehem.
In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.
In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
abiding: Genesis 31:39, Genesis 31:40, Exodus 3:1, Exodus 3:2, 1 Samuel 17:34, 1 Samuel 17:35, Psalms 78:70, Psalms 78:71, Ezekiel 34:8, John 10:8-12
watch over their flock by night: or, the night-watches
Reciprocal: Genesis 35:21 - tower Matthew 1:20 - the angel
Cross-References
Then the Lord God planted a garden in the east, in a place called Eden, and put the man he had formed into it.
The Lord God caused every beautiful tree and every tree that was good for food to grow out of the ground. In the middle of the garden, God put the tree that gives life and also the tree that gives the knowledge of good and evil.
After God forced humans out of the garden, he placed angels and a sword of fire that flashed around in every direction on its eastern border. This kept people from getting to the tree of life.
So Cain went away from the Lord and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
Lot looked all around and saw the whole Jordan Valley and that there was much water there. It was like the Lord 's garden, like the land of Egypt in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
Did the gods of those people save them? My ancestors destroyed them, defeating the cities of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and the people of Eden living in Tel Assar.
So the Lord will comfort Jerusalem; he will show mercy to those who live in her ruins. He will change her deserts into a garden like Eden; he will make her empty lands like the garden of the Lord . People there will be very happy; they will give thanks and sing songs.
"‘People of Haran, Canneh, Eden, and the traders of Sheba, Asshur, and Kilmad became merchants for you.
You had a wonderful life, as if you were in Eden, the garden of God. Every valuable gem was on you: ruby, topaz, and emerald, yellow quartz, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and chrysolite. Your jewelry was made of gold. It was prepared on the day you were created.
I made the nations shake with fear at the sound of the tree falling when I brought it down to the place of the dead. It went to join those who have gone down to the grave. Then all the trees of Eden and the best trees of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees, were comforted in the place of the dead below the earth.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And there were in the same country shepherds,.... For Bethlehem was a place of pasture: near to Ephrata, the same with Bethlehem, were the fields of the wood, Psalms 132:6 and the tower of Edar or the tower of the flock, Genesis 35:21 and here David kept his father's sheep, 1 Samuel 17:15 so that we need not wonder to hear of shepherds here,
abiding in the field, watching over their flock by night: from whence it appears, that Christ was born in the night; and the o Jews say, that the future redemption shall be in the night; and Jerom says p, it is a tradition of the Jews, that Christ will come in the middle of the night, as was the passover in Egypt: it is not likely that he was born, as is commonly received, at the latter end of December, in the depth of winter; since at this time, shepherds were out in the fields, where they lodged all night, watching their flocks: they were diligent men, that looked well to their flocks, and watched them by night, as well as by day, to preserve them from beasts of prey; they were, as it is in the Greek text, "keeping the watches of the night over their flock." The night was divided into four watches, the even, midnight, cock crowing, and morning; and these kept them, as the Arabic version adds, alternately, some kept the flock one watch, and some another, while the rest slept in the tent, or tower, that was built in the fields for that purpose. There were two sorts of cattle with the Jews; there was one sort which they called מדבריות, "the cattle of the wilderness", that lay in the fields; and another sort which they called
בייתות, "the cattle of the house", that were brought up at home: concerning both which, they have this rule q;
"they do not water nor slay the cattle of the wilderness, but they water and slay the cattle of the house: these are the cattle of the house, that lie in the city; the cattle of the wilderness, are they that lie in the pastures.''
On which, one of their commentators r observes,
"these lie in the pastures, which are in the villages, all the days of cold and heat, and do not go into the cities, until the rains descend.''
The first rain is in the month Marchesvan, which answers to the latter part of our October, and the former part of November; and of this sort, seem to be the flocks those shepherds were keeping by night, the time not being yet come, of their being brought into the city: from whence it appears, that Christ must be born before the middle of October, since the first rain was not yet come; concerning this, the Gemara s is more large;
"the Rabbins teach, that these are they of the wilderness, or fields, and these are they of the house; they of the field are they that go out on the passover, and feed in the pastures, and come in at the first rain; and these are they of the house, all that go out and feed without the border, and come and lie within the border (fixed for a sabbath day's journey): Rabbi says, those, and those are of the house; but these are they that are of the field, all they that go out and feed in the pastures, and do not come in to remain, neither in the days of the sun, nor in the days of the rains.''
To the shepherds, the first notice of Christ's birth was given; not to the princes and chief priests, and learned men at Jerusalem, but to weak, mean, and illiterate men; whom God is pleased to choose and call, and reveal his secrets to; when he hides them from the wise and prudent, to their confusion, and the glory of his grace: and this was a presage of what the kingdom of Christ would be, and by, and to whom, the Gospel would be preached.
o Tzeror Hamrnor, fol. 73. 3. p In Matt. xxv. 6. q Misn. Betza, c. 5. sect. 7. r Maimon. in ib. s T. Bab. Betza, for. 40. 1. & Sabbat. fol. 45. 2. Vid Maimon Hilch. Yom Tob, c. 2. sect. 2.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
The same country - Round about Bethlehem.
Shepherds - Men who tended flocks of sheep.
Abiding in the field - Remaining out of doors, under the open sky, with their flocks. This was commonly done. The climate was mild, and, to keep their flocks from straying, they spent the night with them. It is also a fact that the Jews sent out their flocks into the mountainous and desert regions during the summer months, and took them up in the latter part of October or the first of November, when the cold weather commenced. While away in these deserts and mountainous regions, it was proper that there should be someone to attend them to keep them from straying, and from the ravages of wolves and other wild beasts. It is probable from this that our Saviour was born before the 25th of December, or before what we call “Christmas.” At that time it is cold, and especially in the high and mountainous regions about Bethlehem. But the exact time of his birth is unknown; there is no way to ascertain it. By different learned men it has been fixed at each month in the year. Nor is it of consequence to “know” the time; if it were, God would have preserved the record of it. Matters of moment are clearly revealed; those which “he” regards as of no importance are concealed.
Keeping watch ... - More literally, “tending their flocks “by turns” through the night watches.”
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Luke 2:8. There were - shepherds abiding in the field — There is no intimation here that these shepherds were exposed to the open air. They dwelt in the fields where they had their sheep penned up; but they undoubtedly had tents or booths under which they dwelt.
Keeping watch - by night. — Or, as in the margin, keeping the watches of the night, i.e. each one keeping a watch (which ordinarily consisted of three hours) in his turn. The reason why they watched them in the field appears to have been, either to preserve the sheep from beasts of prey, such as wolves, foxes, c., or from freebooting banditti, with which all the land of Judea was at that time much infested. It was a custom among the Jews to send out their sheep to the deserts, about the passover, and bring them home at the commencement of the first rain: during the time they were out, the shepherds watched them night and day. As the passover occurred in the spring, and the first rain began early in the month of Marchesvan, which answers to part of our October and November, we find that the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole of the summer. And as these shepherds had not yet brought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet commenced, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields nor could he have been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the fields by night. On this very ground the nativity in December should be given up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological fact, which casts considerable light upon this disputed point. See the quotations from the Talmudists in Lightfoot.
The time in which Christ was born has been considered a subject of great importance among Christians. However, the matter has been considered of no moment by Him who inspired the evangelists; as not one hint is dropped on the subject, by which it might be possible even to guess nearly to the time, except the chronological fact mentioned above. A late writer makes tho following remark: "The first Christians placed the baptism of Christ about the beginning of the fifteenth year of Tiberius; and thence reckoning back thirty years, they placed his birth in the forty-third year of the Julian period, the forty-second of Augustus, and the twenty-eighth after the victory at Actium. This opinion obtained till A. D. 527, when Dionysius Exiguus invented the vulgar account. Learned and pious men have trifled egregiously on this subject, making that of importance which the Holy Spirit, by his silence, has plainly informed them is of none. Fabricius gives a catalogue of no less than 136 different opinions concerning the YEAR of Christ's birth: and as to his birth DAY, that has been placed by Christian sects and learned men in every month in the year. The Egyptians placed it in January - Wagenseil, in February - Bochart, in March-some, mentioned by Clemens Alexandrinus, in April - others, in May - Epiphanius speaks of some who placed it in June - and of others who supposed it to have been in July - Wagenseil, who was not sure of February, fixed it probably in August - Lightfoot, on the 15th of September - Scaliger, Casaubon, and Calvisius, in October - others, in November - but the Latin Church, supreme in power, and infallible in judgment, placed it on the 25th of December, the very day on which the ancient Romans celebrated the feast of their goddess Bruma." See more in Robinson's Notes on Claude's Essay, vol. i. p. 275, &c. Pope Julius I. was the person who made this alteration, and it appears to have been done for this reason: the sun now began his return towards the northern tropic, ending the winter, lengthening the short days, and introducing the spring. All this was probably deemed emblematical of the rising of the Sun of righteousness on the darkness of this world, and causing the day-spring from on high to visit mankind.
