Luke 2:8
New International Version
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.

New Living Translation
That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep.

English Standard Version
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

Berean Standard Bible
And there were shepherds residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night.

Berean Literal Bible
And there were shepherds in the same region, lodging in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.

King James Bible
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

New King James Version
Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.

New American Standard Bible
In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock at night.

NASB 1995
In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.

NASB 1977
And in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields, and keeping watch over their flock by night.

Legacy Standard Bible
In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.

Amplified Bible
In the same region there were shepherds staying out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.

Christian Standard Bible
In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock.

American Standard Version
And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
But there were some shepherds in the region lodging there and they kept the nightly watch over their flocks;

Contemporary English Version
That night in the fields near Bethlehem some shepherds were guarding their sheep.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And there were in the same country shepherds watching, and keeping the night watches over their flock.

English Revised Version
And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Shepherds were in the fields near Bethlehem. They were taking turns watching their flock during the night.

Good News Translation
There were some shepherds in that part of the country who were spending the night in the fields, taking care of their flocks.

International Standard Version
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, watching their flock during the night.

Literal Standard Version
And there were shepherds in the same region, lodging in the field and keeping the night-watches over their flock,

Majority Standard Bible
And there were shepherds residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night.

New American Bible
Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock.

NET Bible
Now there were shepherds nearby living out in the field, keeping guard over their flock at night.

New Revised Standard Version
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.

New Heart English Bible
There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.

Webster's Bible Translation
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

Weymouth New Testament
Now there were shepherds in the same part of the country, keeping watch over their sheep by night in the open fields,

World English Bible
There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.

Young's Literal Translation
And there were shepherds in the same region, lodging in the field, and keeping the night-watches over their flock,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Shepherds and the Angels
7And she gave birth to her firstborn, a Son. She wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. 8And there were shepherds residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night. 9Just then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.…

Cross References
Luke 2:7
And she gave birth to her firstborn, a Son. She wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Luke 2:9
Just then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.


Treasury of Scripture

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

abiding.

Genesis 31:39,40
That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night…

Exodus 3:1,2
Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb…

1 Samuel 17:34,35
And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: …

watch over their flock by night.

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Abiding Country Field Fields Flock Flocks Keepers Keeping Nearby Night Night-Watches Open Part Region Sheep Shepherds Staying Watch Watching
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Abiding Country Field Fields Flock Flocks Keepers Keeping Nearby Night Night-Watches Open Part Region Sheep Shepherds Staying Watch Watching
Luke 2
1. Augustus taxes all the Roman empire.
6. The nativity of Jesus.
8. An angel relates it to the shepherds, and many sing praises to God for it.
15. The shepherds glorify God.
21. Jesus is circumcised.
22. Mary purified.
25. Simeon and Anna prophesy of Jesus,
39. who increases in wisdom,
41. questions in the temple with the teachers,
51. and is obedient to his parents.














(8) Shepherds abiding in the field.--The fact has been thought, on the supposition that sheep were commonly folded during the winter months, to have a bearing adverse to the common traditional view which fixes December 25 as the day of the Nativity. At that season, it has been urged, the weather was commonly too inclement for shepherds and sheep to pass the night in the open air, and there was too little grass for pasturage. In summer, on the other hand, the grass on the hills is rapidly burnt up. The season at which the grass is greenest is that just before the Passover (Mark 6:39; John 6:10); and, on the whole, this appears the most probable date. The traditional season, which does not appear as such till the fourth century, may have been chosen for quite other reasons--possibly to displace the old Saturnalia, which coincided with the winter solstice. It is noticeable that the earliest Latin hymns connected with the festival of Christmas dwell on the birth as the rising of the Sun of Righteousness on the world's wintry darkness.

Keeping watch.--Literally, keeping their night-watches, as in Matthew 14:25. Who the shepherds were, or why they were thus chosen as the first to hear the glad tidings, we cannot know. Analogy suggests the thought that it was an answer to their prayers, the fulfilment of their hopes, that they, too, were looking for "the consolation of Israel." We may venture, perhaps, to think of the shepherds of Bethlehem as cherishing the traditions of David's shepherd-life, and the expectations which, as we know from Matthew 2:5, John 7:42, were then current throughout Judaea--that the coming of the Christ was not far off, and that Bethlehem was to witness His appearing, as thus gaining a higher spiritual receptivity than others. The statement in the Mishna that the sheep intended for sacrifice in the Temple were pastured in the fields of Bethlehem, gives a special interest to the fact thus narrated, and may, perhaps, in part, explain the faith and devotion of the shepherds. They had been rejoicing, at the Paschal season, over the spring-tide birth of the lambs of their flocks. They now heard of the birth of "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). . . .

Verses 8-20. - The Bethlehem shepherds see the angels. Verse 8. - In the same country; that is, in the upland pastures immediately in the neighborhood of Bethlehem. Shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Why were shepherds chosen as the first on earth to hear the strange glorious news of the birth of the Savior of the world? It seems as though this very humble order was selected as a practical illustration of that which in the future history of Christianity was to be so often exemplified - "the exaltation of the humble and meek." Mary would learn from this, the first visit of adorers to her Babe, that the words of her song (the Magnificat) would in very truth be realized. The subsequent visit of the learned and wealthy travelers from the East (Matthew 2:1-12) would tell her that the words of the Isaiah prophecy were all literally, in their due order, to be fulfilled, some of them even in the unconscious childhood of her Son (see Isaiah 60:3, 6; Psalm 72:10). Now, among the Jews at that period shepherds were held in low estimation among the people. In the Talmud (treatise 'Sanhedrin') we read they were not to be allowed in the courts as witnesses. In the treatise 'Avodah-Zarah' no help must be given to the heathen or to shepherds. The Mishna (Talmud) tells us that the sheep intended for the daily sacrifices in the temple were fed in the Bethlehem pastures. This semisacred occupation no doubt influenced these poor toilers, and specially fitted them to be the recipients of the glad tidings. They would hear much of the loved Law in the solemn ritual of the great temple. They would know, too, that there was a rumor widely current in those days that the longlooked - for Messiah was soon to appear, and that their own Bethlehem was to witness his appearing.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
And
Καὶ (Kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

there were
ἦσαν (ēsan)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

shepherds
ποιμένες (poimenes)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 4166: A shepherd; hence met: of the feeder, protector, and ruler of a flock of men. Of uncertain affinity; a shepherd.

residing in the fields
ἀγραυλοῦντες (agraulountes)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 63: To spend the night in the open, bivouac. From agros and auleo; to camp out.

nearby,
χώρᾳ (chōra)
Noun - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 5561: Feminine of a derivative of the base of chasma through the idea of empty expanse; room, i.e. A space of territory.

keeping
φυλάσσοντες (phylassontes)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 5442: Probably from phule through the idea of isolation; to watch, i.e. Be on guard; by implication, to preserve, obey, avoid.

watch
φυλακὰς (phylakas)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural
Strong's 5438: From phulasso; a guarding or, the act, the person; figuratively, the place, the condition, or, the time, literally or figuratively.

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

their
αὐτῶν (autōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

flocks
ποίμνην (poimnēn)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 4167: A flock (of sheep or goats). Contraction from poimaino; a flock.

by night.
νυκτὸς (nyktos)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 3571: The night, night-time. A primary word; 'night'.


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NT Gospels: Luke 2:8 There were shepherds in the same country (Luke Lu Lk)
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