John 10:22–42

Jesus Is Rejected

²²It was winter, and the Festival of the Dedication of the Temple was being celebrated in Jerusalem. ²³Jesus was walking in Solomon’s Porch in the Temple, ²⁴when the people gathered round him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? Tell us the plain truth: are you the Messiah?”

²⁵Jesus answered, “I have already told you, but you would not believe me. The things I do by my Father’s authority speak on my behalf; ²⁶but you will not believe, for you are not my sheep. ²⁷My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they shall never die. No one can snatch them away from me. ²⁹What my Father has given me is greater^y than everything, and no one can snatch them away from the Father’s care. ³⁰The Father and I are one.”

³¹Then the people again picked up stones to throw at him. ³²Jesus said to them, “I have done many good deeds in your presence which the Father gave me to do; for which one of these do you want to stone me?”

^33*They replied, “We do not want to stone you because of any good deeds, but because of your blasphemy! You are only a man, but you are trying to make yourself God!”

^34*Jesus answered, “It is written in your own Law that God said, ‘You are gods.’ ³⁵We know that what the scripture says is true for ever; and God called those people gods, the people to whom his message was given. ³⁶As for me, the Father chose me and sent me into the world. How, then, can you say that I blaspheme because I said that I am the Son of God? ³⁷Do not believe me, then, if I am not doing the things my Father wants me to do. ³⁸But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, you should at least believe my deeds, in order that you may know once and for all that the Father is in me and that I am in the Father.”

³⁹Once more they tried to seize Jesus, but he slipped out of their hands.

^40*Jesus then went back again across the River Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing, and he stayed there. ⁴¹Many people came to him. “John performed no miracles,” they said, “but everything he said about this man was true.” ⁴²And many people there believed in him.