John 10

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

10“Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber.^{aa 2}The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd^ab of the sheep.^{ac 3}The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers.” ⁶Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand^ad what he was telling them.

⁷Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am^ae the gate for the sheep.^{af 8}All who came before me^B are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. ⁹I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰A thief comes only to steal^a and kill and destroy.^b I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

¹¹“I am the good shepherd.^c The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.^{d 12}The hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, leaves them^C and runs away when he sees a wolf^e coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them. ¹³This happens because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care about the sheep.

¹⁴“I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, ¹⁵just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father.^f I lay down my life^g for the sheep. ¹⁶But I have other sheep^h that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd.^{i 17}This is why the Father loves me,^j because I lay down my life^k so that I may take it up again. ¹⁸No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”^l

¹⁹Again the Jews were divided^m because of these words. ²⁰Many of them were saying, “He has a demonⁿ and he’s crazy. Why do you listen to him?” ²¹Others were saying, “These aren’t the words of someone who is demon-possessed. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”^o

JESUS AT THE FESTIVAL OF DEDICATION

²²Then the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem, and it was winter. ²³Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon’s Colonnade.^{p 24}The Jews surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense?^A If you are the Messiah,^q tell us plainly.”^Br

²⁵“I did tell you and you don’t believe,” Jesus answered them. “The works^s that I do in my Father’s name testify about me. ²⁶But you don’t believe because you are not of my sheep.^{Ct 27}My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life,^u and they will never perish.^v No one will snatch^w them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father,^x who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰I and the Father are one.”^y

RENEWED EFFORTS TO STONE JESUS

³¹Again the Jews picked up rocks to stone him.^z

³²Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works^aa from the Father. For which of these works are you stoning me?”

³³“We aren’t stoning^ab you for a good work,” the Jews answered, “but for blasphemy, because you—being a man—make yourself God.”

³⁴Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law,^D I said, you are gods?^{Eac 35}If he called those to whom the word^ad of God came ‘gods’—and the Scripture^ae cannot be broken—³⁶do you say, ‘You are blaspheming’ to the one the Father set apart and sent into the world, because I said: I am the Son of God?^{af 37}If I am not doing my Father’s works,^ag don’t believe me. ³⁸But if I am doing them and you don’t believe me, believe the works. This way you will know and understand^F that the Father is in me and I in the Father.”^{ah 39}Then they were trying again to seize him,^ai but he escaped their grasp.^aj

MANY BEYOND THE JORDAN BELIEVE IN JESUS

⁴⁰So he departed again across the Jordan^ak to the place where John^al had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. ⁴¹Many came to him^am and said, “John never did a sign, but everything John said about this man was true.” ⁴²And many believed in him there.