John 10

¹Truly, truly, I say to you: the one who does not enter through the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up from somewhere else — that one is a thief and a robber.

²But the one who enters through the door is a shepherd of the sheep.

³To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

⁴When he has driven out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.

⁵But a stranger they will not follow at all; rather, they will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.

⁶Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what it was that he was saying to them.

⁷So Jesus said to them again, 'Truly, truly, I say to you: I am the door of the sheep.'

⁸All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not hear them.

⁹I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out and find pasture.

¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

¹¹I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

¹²But the hired hand, and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and flees — and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

¹³The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand and has no concern for the sheep.

¹⁴I am the good shepherd, and I know my own and my own know me,

¹⁵even as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

¹⁶I have other sheep that are not of this fold; those also I must lead, and they will hear my voice; and there will be one flock, one shepherd.

¹⁷For this reason the Father loves me: because I lay down my life, that I may take it up again.

¹⁸No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I have received from my Father.

¹⁹There arose a division again among the Jews because of these words.

²⁰Many of them were saying, 'He has a demon and is raving; why do you listen to him?'

²¹Others were saying, 'These are not the words of one who is demon-possessed. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?'

²²At that time the Feast of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter,

²³and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the Portico of Solomon.

²⁴So the Jews encircled him and said to him, 'How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.'

²⁵Jesus answered them, 'I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, these bear witness about me;

²⁶but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep, as I said to you.

²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me,

²⁸and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish forever, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

³⁰I and the Father are one.

³¹The Jews took up stones again to stone him.

³²Jesus answered them, 'I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these works are you stoning me?'

³³The Jews answered him, 'It is not for a good work that we are stoning you, but for blasphemy, and because you, being a man, make yourself God.'

³⁴Jesus answered them, 'Is it not written in your law, "I said, you are gods"?

³⁵if he called them gods to whom the word of God came — and the Scripture cannot be broken —

³⁶whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, do you say, 'You blaspheme,' because I said, 'Son of God I am'?

³⁷If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me.

³⁸but if I do, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and continue to know that the Father is in me and I in the Father.'

³⁹They were seeking therefore to seize him again, and he went out of their hand.

⁴⁰And he went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John had first been baptizing, and he remained there.

⁴¹And many came to him and were saying, 'John did not perform a single sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.'

⁴²And many believed in him there.