Matthew 10:6

Jesus Sends Out The Twelve Apostles

⁵ Jesus sent out these twelve, instructing them: “Do not go among the Gentiles, and do not go into a city of the Samaritans; ⁶ but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷ And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

House of Israel

Lost Sheep

People of Israel

Israel

Jeremiah 50:6

“My people have become lost sheep;
Their shepherds have led them astray.
They have made them turn aside [to the seductive places of idolatry] on the mountains.
They have gone along [from one sin to another] from mountain to hill;
They have forgotten their [own] resting place.

Psalm 119:176

I have gone astray like a lost sheep;
Seek Your servant, for I do not forget Your commandments.

Isaiah 53:6

All of us like sheep have gone astray,
We have turned, each one, to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the wickedness of us all [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]
To fall on Him [instead of us].

Acts 3:26

It was for you first of all that God raised up His Servant and Son [Jesus], and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

Acts 13:46

And [at the same time] Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and confidently, saying, “It was necessary that God’s message [of salvation through faith in Christ] be spoken to you [Jews] first. Since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, now we turn to the Gentiles.

Jeremiah 50:17

Israel is a hunted and scattered flock [driven here and there as prey]; the lions have chased them away. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken (gnawed) his bones.

Ezekiel 34:6

My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill; My flock was scattered over all the face of the earth and no one searched or sought them.”’”

Ezekiel 34:8

“As I live,” says the Lord God, “certainly because My flock has become prey, My flock has even become food for every predator of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not search for My flock, but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock;

Ezekiel 34:16

“I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bandage the crippled, and strengthen the weak and the sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong [who have become hard-hearted and perverse]. I will feed them with judgment and punishment.

Matthew 15:24-26

He answered, “I was commissioned by God and sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Matthew 18:10

“See that you do not despise or think less of one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven [are in the presence of and] continually look upon the face of My Father who is in heaven.

Luke 15:3-10

So He told them this parable:

Luke 24:47

and that repentance [necessary] for forgiveness of sins would be preached in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

Acts 18:6

But since the Jews kept resisting and opposing him, and blaspheming [God], he shook out his robe and said to them, “Your blood (damnation) be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

Acts 26:20

but I openly proclaimed first to those at Damascus, then at Jerusalem and throughout the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent [change their inner self—their old way of thinking] and turn to God, doing deeds and living lives which are consistent with repentance.

Acts 28:25-28

They disagreed among themselves and they began to leave after Paul had made one last statement: “The Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers, saying,

Romans 11:11-15

So I say, have they stumbled so as to fall [to spiritual ruin]? Certainly not! But by their transgression [their rejection of the Messiah] salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous [when they realize what they have forfeited].

1 Peter 2:25

For you were continually wandering like [so many] sheep, but now you have come back to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.