What Does John 10:5 Mean in the King James?
And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The stranger is not only unknown; his voice belongs elsewhere, so it cannot claim the sheep’s following.
THE MEANING
This verse presents recognition as a living perception that shapes movement. A voice that does not belong to the shepherd the sheep know does not draw their following; they turn away from it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that every voice that addresses you deserves to be followed.
THE ROOT
οἴδασιν
oidasin
GROWS FROM
εἴδω
eidō
To see or perceive; οἶδα, the form behind this word, means to know, as one who has seen.
English “know” can sound like stored information, but this Greek word carries a connection to seeing and perceiving. The sheep recognize the voice as familiar; the verse does not describe them evaluating its words.
ALSO GROWS
eidō: To see or perceive
εἴδω
It reveals the perceptive sense beneath the sheep’s knowing.
eidos: Form, appearance
εἶδος
This related word keeps the family’s link to what can be perceived.
ἀλλοτρίων
allotriōn
GROWS FROM
ἄλλος
allos
Another, or other; ἀλλότριος describes what belongs to another.
The word translated “strangers” also carries the sense of what belongs to someone else. The contrast is therefore about the source and belonging of the voice, not merely whether the speaker is unfamiliar.
ALSO GROWS
allos: Another, other
ἄλλος
This is the underlying idea of otherness in the word for “strangers.”
allotriepiskopos: A meddler in another person’s affairs
ἀλλοτριεπίσκοπος
This related compound preserves the sense of what belongs to another.
φωνήν
phōnēn
GROWS FROM
φων-
phon-
Voice, sound, or utterance.
The voice is more than the words’ content: it is the audible call of a particular source. The sheep’s response turns on recognition of that source.
ALSO GROWS
phōneō: To call or speak aloud
φωνέω
It shows the voice as an act of calling, not just sound.
aphōnos: Voiceless, without speech
ἄφωνος
This related form makes the shared voice-and-sound root visible.
THE PATTERN
Recognition of a voice shapes whom a person follows and where that voice leads.
Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:THE THREAD
And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.The same knowing and voice in verse 4 explain the refusal in verse 5: the sheep follow the voice they recognize as their shepherd’s. The contrast rests on belonging and recognition, not on decoding unfamiliar words.
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