John 10

1“Truly, truly, I tell you, anyone who does not go into the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in from somewhere else, is a thief and a bandit. 2But the one who goes in through the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3For him the doorkeeper opens the door, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls each of his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4Once he has brought all his own sheep out, he walks on ahead, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5They will not follow a stranger at all. They will run from him, because they do not know the voices of strangers.” 6Jesus spoke this figure of speech to them, but they did not grasp what he meant by it.

7So Jesus spoke to them again: “Truly, truly, I tell you, I am the door for the sheep. 8All who came before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not give them a hearing. 9I am the door. If anyone goes in through me, they will be saved, going in and going out and finding pasture. 10The thief comes for no other reason than to steal and slaughter and destroy. I came so that they may have life, and have it in overflowing measure.

11I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12A hired man is no shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. So when he sees the wolf coming, he leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf seizes them and scatters the flock. 13He flees because he works only for pay, and the sheep mean nothing to him. 14I am the good shepherd. I know those who are mine, and those who are mine know me, 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep as well, which are not of this fold. I must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock with one shepherd. 17This is why the Father loves me: because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and authority to take it up again. This is the command I received from my Father.”

19Once more the Jews who were listening were divided because of these words. 20Many of them said, “He has a demon and is out of his mind. Why listen to him?” 21Others said, “This is not how a man with a demon speaks. Surely a demon cannot open the eyes of the blind?” 22Then came the time of the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was walking about in the temple courts, in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24So the Jews who were there surrounded him and said to him, “How long will you leave us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us in plain words.” 25Jesus answered them, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name are themselves witnesses for me. 26But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. 27The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30The Father and I are one.”

31Once more the Jews who had gathered around him picked up stones to stone him. 32Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works that come from the Father. Which of those works are you trying to stone me for?” 33The Jews answered him, “It is not because of a good work that we are stoning you. It is because of blasphemy: you are only a man, and you are making yourself God.” 34Jesus answered them, “Your own law says, does it not, ‘I said, “You are gods”’? 35If he called them gods, the people to whom the word of God came, and Scripture cannot be broken, 36how can you tell him, the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37If I am not doing my Father’s works, do not believe me. 38But if I am doing them, then even if you do not believe me, believe the works. Then you will come to know, and go on knowing, that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” 39So once more they tried to arrest him, but he slipped out of their hands.

40Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days, and he stayed there. 41Many people came to him. “John did not do a single sign,” they said, “but every word John spoke about this man was true.” 42And many people there believed in him.