Jesus Asserts His Deity

22 At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem;

23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of aSolomon.

24 aThe Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long 1will You keep us in suspense? If You are 2the Christ, tell us bplainly.”

25 Jesus answered them, “aI told you, and you do not believe; bthe works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.

26 “But you do not believe because ayou are not of My sheep.

27 “My sheep ahear My voice, and bI know them, and they follow Me;

28 and I give aeternal life to them, and they will never perish; and bno one will snatch them out of My hand.

29 “1My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

30 “aI and the Father are 1one.”

31 The Jews apicked up stones again to stone Him.

32 Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?”

33 The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for ablasphemy; and because You, being a man, bmake Yourself out to be God.”

34 Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in ayour bLaw, ‘cI said, you are gods’?

35 “If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),

36 do you say of Him, whom the Father asanctified and bsent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘cI am the Son of God’?

37 “aIf I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;

38 but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe athe works, so that you may 1know and understand that bthe Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”

39 Therefore athey were seeking again to seize Him, and bHe eluded their grasp.

40 And He went away aagain beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there.

41 Many came to Him and were saying, “While John performed no asign, yet beverything John said about this man was true.”

42 aMany believed in Him there.