John 10

10 ¹ I assure you that whoever doesn’t enter into the sheep pen through the gate but climbs over the wall is a thief and an outlaw. ² The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ The guard at the gate opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ Whenever he has gathered all of his sheep, he goes before them and they follow him, because they know his voice. ⁵ They won’t follow a stranger but will run away because they don’t know the stranger’s voice.” ⁶ Those who heard Jesus use this analogy didn’t understand what he was saying.

I am the gate

⁷ So Jesus spoke again, “I assure you that I am the gate of the sheep. ⁸ All who came before me were thieves and outlaws, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. ⁹ I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief enters only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came so that they could have life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest.

I am the good shepherd

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² When the hired hand sees the wolf coming, he leaves the sheep and runs away. That’s because he isn’t the shepherd; the sheep aren’t really his. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. ¹³ He’s only a hired hand and the sheep don’t matter to him.

¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep and they know me, ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. I give up my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ I have other sheep that don’t belong to this sheep pen. I must lead them too. They will listen to my voice and there will be one flock, with one shepherd.

¹⁷ “This is why the Father loves me: I give up my life so that I can take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I give it up because I want to. I have the right to give it up, and I have the right to take it up again. I received this commandment from my Father.”

¹⁹ There was another division among the Jews because of Jesus’ words. ²⁰ Many of them said, “He has a demon and has lost his mind. Why listen to him?” ²¹ Others said, “These aren’t the words of someone who has a demon. Can a demon heal the eyes of people who are blind?”

Jesus at the Festival of Dedication

²² The time came for the Festival of Dedication in Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³ and Jesus was in the temple, walking in the covered porch named for Solomon. ²⁴ The Jewish opposition circled around him and asked, “How long will you test our patience? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

²⁵ Jesus answered, “I have told you, but you don’t believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, ²⁶ but you don’t believe because you don’t belong to my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life. They will never die, and no one will snatch them from my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them from my Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

³¹ Again the Jewish opposition picked up stones in order to stone him. ³² Jesus responded, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”

³³ The Jewish opposition answered, “We don’t stone you for a good work but for insulting God. You are human, yet you make yourself out to be God.”

³⁴ Jesus replied, “Isn’t it written in your Law, I have said, you are gods? ³⁵ Scripture calls those to whom God’s word came gods, and scripture can’t be abolished. ³⁶ So how can you say that the one whom the Father has made holy and sent into the world insults God because he said, ‘I am God’s Son’? ³⁷ If I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me. ³⁸ But if I do them, and you don’t believe me, believe the works so that you can know and recognize that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” ³⁹ Again, they wanted to arrest him, but he escaped from them.

Jesus at the Jordan

⁴⁰ Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had baptized at first, and he stayed there. ⁴¹ Many people came to him. “John didn’t do any miraculous signs,” they said, “but everything John said about this man was true.” ⁴² Many believed in Jesus there.