The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
Latin correspondence unavailable for this passage.
Explanation — not a translation
In brief
In John 10:10 Jesus sets two figures side by side. The thief comes only “to steal, kill, and destroy.” Jesus has come so that His sheep “may have life, and may have it abundantly”: life with God that is full, overflowing and secure in His care.
The setting
John 10 continues directly from chapter 9, where Jesus heals a man born blind and the man is then thrown out by religious leaders who refuse to believe (John 9:34). Jesus finds him, and the man believes and worships Him (9:35-38). The shepherd discourse that follows is spoken with that scene in view: some leaders have treated the sheep badly, and Jesus presents Himself as the shepherd who gathers them.
Jesus therefore said to them again, “Most certainly, I tell you, I am the sheep’s door. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters in by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out and will find pasture.
Latin correspondence unavailable for this passage.
Jesus calls Himself the door of the sheep: whoever enters through Him “will find pasture.”
The image draws on the Old Testament. In Ezekiel 34:1–16 God condemns Israel’s shepherds, its rulers, for feeding themselves instead of the flock, and promises, “I Myself will be the shepherd of My sheep.” Jesus’ words claim that promise.
Who is the thief?
In context, the thieves and robbers are those who came before Jesus claiming authority over the flock but serving themselves (John 10:1, 8); the hired hand who runs from the wolf (10:12-13) is a separate figure, who fails the sheep through neglect rather than theft. Many Christian readers also hear in the thief the devil, whom John elsewhere calls a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). The two readings fit together: whatever robs people of life, whether false leaders or evil itself, stands opposite the shepherd.
What “abundantly” means
The Greek word (perissos) means more than enough, overflowing. In John’s Gospel, life is never simply a long or comfortable life. It is eternal life, which Jesus defines as knowing “the only true God, and Him whom You sent” (John 17:3), and it begins now.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
Latin correspondence unavailable for this passage.
The very next verse says how the shepherd gives this life: by laying down His own.
What it doesn’t necessarily mean
John 10:10 is sometimes read as a promise of material prosperity, health or success for believers. Nothing in the passage points that way. The shepherd who gives abundant life does it by dying, and Jesus tells His disciples, “In the world you have trouble” (John 16:33). The abundance is fullness of relationship with God and protection from being lost: “no one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28).
Read it with
Psalm 23 is the classic picture of the Lord as shepherd; see the Psalm 23 explanation. The Hope page gathers related passages.