Luke Chapter 2 verse 8 Holy Bible

ASV Luke 2:8

And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
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BBE Luke 2:8

And in the same country there were keepers of sheep in the fields, watching over their flock by night.
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DARBY Luke 2:8

And there were shepherds in that country abiding without, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
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KJV Luke 2:8

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
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WBT Luke 2:8


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WEB Luke 2:8

There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
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YLT Luke 2:8

And there were shepherds in the same region, lodging in the field, and keeping the night-watches over their flock,
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Luke 2 : 8 Bible Verse Songs

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerses 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.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(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). . . .