John 10

I Am the Good Shepherd

¹“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.²But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.³To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.⁵A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”⁶This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

⁷So Jesus again said to them, “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 listen to them.⁹I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill 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.¹²He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.¹³He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.¹⁶And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So 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 charge I have received from my Father.”

¹⁹There was again a division among the Jews because of these words.²⁰Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?”²¹Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

I and the Father Are One

²²At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter,²³and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon.²⁴So the Jews gathered around 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 bear witness about me,²⁶but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.²⁹My 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.³⁰I and the Father are one.”

³¹The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.³²Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”³³The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, 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 Scripture cannot be broken—³⁶do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?³⁷If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me;³⁸but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”³⁹Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

⁴⁰He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained.⁴¹And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.”⁴²And many believed in him there.