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Jesus told His disciples He had “other sheep” who would hear His voice. Latter-day Saints believe that after His resurrection Jesus visited a branch of the house of Israel living in the Americas, descendants of Joseph who left Jerusalem around 600 BC. The Old Testament blessings on Joseph speak of a fruitful family whose branches would run “over the wall” to a land at the ends of the earth.
14I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. 15As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
“Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”
But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Jesus says, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” So His other sheep were most likely scattered Israelites, people He would visit and who would hear His own voice.
Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
Jacob blesses Joseph as “a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall.” Latter-day Saints see this as Joseph’s descendants crossing the sea.
The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.
Joseph’s blessings reach “unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.”
13And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, 14And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, 15And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, 16And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. 17His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.
Moses blesses Joseph’s land with “the precious things of heaven” and says he will push the people “to the ends of the earth.”
15And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, 16The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. 19And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.
Jacob says Joseph’s son Ephraim will become “a multitude of nations.”
They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
“Ephraim is my firstborn.”
51And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; 52And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
Jesus would die to “gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.”
Most Christians read “other sheep” as the Gentiles who would join the Church through the apostles’ preaching, and they read the blessings on Joseph as promises about the land and growth of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh in ancient Israel.
Includes the key verses above, the Church's Topical Guide, and every King James verse that uses these words: other sheep, lost sheep. Key verses are highlighted. Tap a book to open it.