Matthew 18:12 (LSB)

Passage

“What do you think? If any man has one hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?

Nearby Context

Matthew 18:10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 18:11 [For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.]

Matthew 18:12 “What do you think? If any man has one hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?

Matthew 18:13 And if it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.

Matthew 18:14 In this way, it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "sheep", "gone astray", "think", "hundred", "does", "leave", and "ninety-nine". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "sheep" and "gone astray", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 11's "For the Son of Man has come..." into verse 13's "And if it turns out that he...", so "sheep" and "gone astray" belong inside that flow. In Matthew context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "sheep" and "gone astray" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.