John 12:15
New International Version
“Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

New Living Translation
“Don’t be afraid, people of Jerusalem. Look, your King is coming, riding on a donkey’s colt.”

English Standard Version
“Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”

Berean Standard Bible
“Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion. See, your King is coming, seated on the colt of a donkey.”

Berean Literal Bible
"Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, your King comes, sitting on a colt of a donkey."

King James Bible
Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt.

New King James Version
“Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

New American Standard Bible
“DO NOT FEAR, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY’S COLT.”

NASB 1995
“FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY’S COLT.”

NASB 1977
“FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY’S COLT.”

Legacy Standard Bible
“FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY’S COLT.”

Amplified Bible
“DO NOT FEAR, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY’S COLT.”

Christian Standard Bible
Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion. Look, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Fear no more, Daughter Zion. Look, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.

American Standard Version
Fear not, daughter of Zion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
“Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold your King comes to you and rides on a foal, a colt of a donkey.”

Contemporary English Version
"People of Jerusalem, don't be afraid! Your King is now coming, and he is riding on a donkey."

Douay-Rheims Bible
Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy king cometh, sitting on an ass's colt.

English Revised Version
Fear not, daughter of Zion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"Don't be afraid, people of Zion! Your king is coming. He is riding on a donkey's colt."

Good News Translation
"Do not be afraid, city of Zion! Here comes your king, riding on a young donkey."

International Standard Version
"Stop being afraid, people of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting upon a donkey's colt!"

Literal Standard Version
“Do not fear, daughter of Zion, behold, your King comes, sitting on a colt of a donkey.”

Majority Standard Bible
“Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion. See, your King is coming, seated on the colt of a donkey.”

New American Bible
“Fear no more, O daughter Zion; see, your king comes, seated upon an ass’s colt.”

NET Bible
"Do not be afraid, people of Zion; look, your king is coming, seated on a donkey' s colt!"

New Revised Standard Version
“Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”

New Heart English Bible
"Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your King comes, sitting on a donkey's colt."

Webster's Bible Translation
Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt.

Weymouth New Testament
"Fear not, Daughter of Zion! See, thy King is coming riding on an ass's colt."

World English Bible
“Don’t be afraid, daughter of Zion. Behold, your King comes, sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

Young's Literal Translation
'Fear not, daughter of Sion, lo, thy king doth come, sitting on an ass' colt.'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Triumphal Entry
14Finding a young donkey, Jesus sat on it, as it is written: 15“Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion. See, your King is coming, seated on the colt of a donkey.” 16At first His disciples did not understand these things, but after Jesus was glorified they remembered what had been done to Him, and they realized that these very things had also been written about Him.…

Cross References
Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Matthew 21:5
"Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your King comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'"

John 12:14
Finding a young donkey, Jesus sat on it, as it is written:


Treasury of Scripture

Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, your King comes, sitting on an ass's colt.

Fear.

Isaiah 35:4,5
Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you…

Isaiah 40:9,10
O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! …

Isaiah 41:14
Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

sitting.

Deuteronomy 17:16
But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

Judges 5:10
Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way.

Judges 12:14
And he had forty sons and thirty nephews, that rode on threescore and ten ass colts: and he judged Israel eight years.

Jump to Previous
Afraid Ass Ass's Colt Daughter Donkey's Fear Riding Seated Sion Sitting Young Zion
Jump to Next
Afraid Ass Ass's Colt Daughter Donkey's Fear Riding Seated Sion Sitting Young Zion
John 12
1. Jesus excuses Mary anointing his feet.
9. The people flock to see Lazarus.
10. The chief priests consult to kill him.
12. Jesus rides into Jerusalem.
20. Greeks desire to see Jesus.
23. He foretells his death.
37. The people are generally blinded;
42. yet many chief rulers believe, but do not confess him;
44. therefore Jesus calls earnestly for confession of faith.














(15) Fear not, daughter of Sion.--The quotation is made freely, and in an abbreviated form. (Comp. the fuller form in Matthew 21:5, and Note upon it there.) It is in the two Hebrew Gospels only that the connection of the fact with the prophecy is mentioned.

Sitting on an ass's colt.--The Greek (LXX.) has "a young ass." St. John's translation is nearer to the Hebrew. (Comp. Introduction, p. 374).

Verse 15. - John, as well as Matthew, sees here a symbolical fulfillment of what had been declared by one of the latest of the prophets, as the peculiarity of the Messiah (Zechariah 9:9): Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt. This oracle is admitted by commentators of opposite schools to refer to the Messiah. There was no need, in order to fulfill the spirit of the whole passage, that the King should come to his own literally upon the back of a beast of burden. The prophecy does, however, suggest the modesty, the absence of all pomp or display of worldly wealth and power; nay, the humiliation on the part of the true King. Both Matthew and John omit the characteristics of "righteous and saved," i.e. "delivered" from the hands of his cruel enemies. The suffering Servant of God of the great oracle of Isaiah 53. was in the mind of the Prophet Zechariah, and he adds this feature to the triumphant coming of the true Prince of Peace, that he would "cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem," i.e. so act that even the national pride and power and military prowess should come to an end; "Speak peace to the nations; rule from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth." As John and Matthew both see the symbolical fulfillment of the prophecy, they doubtless would have us bear in mind the whole passage. John transforms the "Rejoice greatly, shout," etc., of the prophet into "Fear not." He seems to take it at one stage only of fulfillment, when anxiety might momentarily be put to rest. The "Fear not" is a lower form of "great rejoicing." It is something for men to dismiss their doubts and hush their unrest, even when they cannot burst into song. Hengstenberg and Godet urge that the "meekness and lowliness" to which the prophet referred, and which Matthew cited from him, was imaged in the lowly beast on which never man sat. But it must not be forgotten that the ass was used by distinguished personages (Judges 5:9, 10; Judges 10:4; 2 Samuel 17:23; 2 Samuel 19:26). And all that was really meant by it was the choice of a creature associated rather with daily life than with military display. Meyer and Moulton urge that it was a chosen symbol of peace (καθήμενος ισ substituted for the ἐπιβεβηκὼς ἐπὶ of the LXX. and Matthew 21:5). Contrary to Keim's animadversion, our Lord and his disciples adopted here the idea of a Jewish Messiah, stripping it of its worldly characteristics. It should be observed that, while John's narrative is in harmony with the synoptists, he greatly abbreviates it.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
“Do not be afraid,
φοβοῦ (phobou)
Verb - Present Imperative Middle or Passive - 2nd Person Singular
Strong's 5399: From phobos; to frighten, i.e. to be alarmed; by analogy, to be in awe of, i.e. Revere.

O daughter
θυγάτηρ (thygatēr)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 2364: Apparently a primary word; a female child, or descendant.

of Zion.
Σιών (Siōn)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 4622: Zion, the hill; used for Jerusalem or heaven. Of Hebrew origin; Sion, a hill of Jerusalem; figuratively, the Church.

See,
ἰδοὺ (idou)
Verb - Aorist Imperative Active - 2nd Person Singular
Strong's 2400: See! Lo! Behold! Look! Second person singular imperative middle voice of eido; used as imperative lo!

your
σου (sou)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 2nd Person Singular
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

King
Βασιλεύς (Basileus)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 935: A king, ruler, but in some passages clearly to be translated: emperor. Probably from basis; a sovereign.

is coming,
ἔρχεται (erchetai)
Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2064: To come, go.

seated
καθήμενος (kathēmenos)
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2521: To sit, be seated, enthroned; I dwell, reside. From kata; and hemai; to sit down; figuratively, to remain, reside.

on
ἐπὶ (epi)
Preposition
Strong's 1909: On, to, against, on the basis of, at.

the colt
πῶλον (pōlon)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 4454: A colt, young ass, foal. Apparently a primary word; a 'foal' or 'filly', i.e., a young ass.

of a donkey.”
ὄνου (onou)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 3688: A donkey. Apparently a primary word; a donkey.


Links
John 12:15 NIV
John 12:15 NLT
John 12:15 ESV
John 12:15 NASB
John 12:15 KJV

John 12:15 BibleApps.com
John 12:15 Biblia Paralela
John 12:15 Chinese Bible
John 12:15 French Bible
John 12:15 Catholic Bible

NT Gospels: John 12:15 Don't be afraid daughter of Zion (Jhn Jo Jn)
John 12:14
Top of Page
Top of Page