John 21:17 BSB — MannaFest

John 21:17

Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

KJV

He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

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Commentary

4 voices

Cyril of Alexandria

Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 12 (444)

Herein, also, is a type given to the Churches, that they ought thrice to ask for a confession of Christ from those who have chosen to love Him by coming to Him in Holy Baptism. And, by dwelling on this passage, instructors in religion may arrive at the knowledge that they cannot please the Chief Shepherd, that is Christ, unless they take thought for the health of the sheep of His fold, and their continuance in well-being.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

Augustine of Hippo

Tractates on John 123 (430)

We have it also demonstrated here that love and liking are one and the same thing; for the Lord also in the last question said not Diligis me? but, Amas me? Let us, then, love not ourselves, but Him; and in feeding His sheep, let us be seeking the things which are His, not the things which are our own. For in some inexplicable way, I know not what, every one that loveth himself, and not God, loveth not himself; and whoever loveth God, and not himself, he it is that loveth himself. For he that cannot live by himself will certainly die by loving himself; he therefore loveth not himself who loves himself to his own loss of life. But when He is loved by whom life is preserved, a man by not loving himself only loveth the more, when it is for this reason that he loveth not himself [namely] that he may love Him by whom he lives.

[2026-09-05 restored to shown: kept for the phileo word page exemplar (W71 s2): Augustine, Tractates on John 123, reads the third question at John 21:17 as proof that the two love words name one love; the relevance call is the agent's under the canon standard and the founder reviews by hand]

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

(3.) Three times Christ committed the care of his flock to Peter: Feed my lambs; feed my sheep; feed my sheep. [1.] Those whom Christ committed to Peter's care were his lambs and his sheep. The church of Christ is his flock, which he hath purchased with his own blood ( Acts xx. 28 ), and he is the chief shepherd of it.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2669: “Comfort From Christ's Omniscience” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1900)

PETER was somewhat pressed. He felt that he was pushed into a corner and compelled to look into his own heart and divulge its innermost secret. To be asked once, in the presence of his Brothers, whether he loved his Lord more than they did, had a tendency to humiliate him, for he had boastfully declared that, though all men should be offended because of Christ, he would not. But to be asked, next, whether he really loved Christ at all, sank him to the ground with holy shame.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

38 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
λέγει	legei	He says	G3004 →
αὐτῷ	autō	to him	G846 →
τὸ	to	the	G3588 →
τρίτον·	triton	third time;	G5154 →
Σίμων	Simōn	Simon	G4613 →
Ἰωάννου,	Iōannou	[son] of John,	G2491 →
φιλεῖς	phileis	do you dearly love	G5368 →
με;	me	Me?	G3165 →
ἐλυπήθη	elupēthē	Was grieved	G3076 →
ὁ	ho	<the>	G3588 →
Πέτρος	Petros	Peter	G4074 →
ὅτι	hoti	because	G3754 →
εἶπεν	eipen	He said	G2036 →
αὐτῷ	autō	to him	G846 →
τὸ	to	the	G3588 →
τρίτον·	triton	third time;	G5154 →
φιλεῖς	phileis	Do you dearly love	G5368 →
με;	me	Me?	G3165 →
καὶ	kai	And	G2532 →
λέγει	legei	he speaks	G3004 →
αὐτῷ·	autō	to Him;	G846 →
κύριε,	kurie	Lord,	G2962 →
πάντα	panta	all things	G3956 →
σὺ	su	You yourself	G4771 →
οἶδας,	oidas	know,
σὺ	su	You yourself	G4771 →
γινώσκεις	ginōskeis	know	G1097 →
ὅτι	hoti	that	G3754 →
φιλῶ	philō	I dearly love	G5368 →
σε.	se	You.	G4771 →
λέγει	legei	Says	G3004 →
αὐτῷ	autō	to him	G846 →
ὁ	ho	<the>	G3588 →
Ἰησοῦς·	Iēsous	Jesus;	G2424 →
βόσκε	boske	do feed	G1006 →
τὰ	ta	the	G3588 →
πρόβατά	probata	sheep	G4263 →
μου.	mou	of Mine.	G3165 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
John 14:15
If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
leads to
- 1 John 2:3–5
  By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments.
- 1 John 5:2–3
  By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments.
- John 14:21–24
  Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”
- 2 John 1:6
  And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the very commandment you have heard from the beginning, that you must walk in love.
- John 15:10–14
  If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.
Through
John 13:38
“Will you lay down your life for Me?” Jesus replied. “Truly, truly, I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.
leads to
- Mark 14:30
  “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.”
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- Luke 22:34
  But Jesus replied, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”
- Matthew 26:34
  “Truly I tell you,” Jesus declared, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”