John 10
1 “Truly, truly, I tell you: anyone who does not enter the sheep pen through the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.
2 But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
5 They will not follow a stranger; instead, they will run away from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
6 Jesus told them this comparison, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
7 So Jesus said again, “Truly, truly, I tell you: I am the gate for the sheep.
8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
9 I am the gate. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved; he will come in and go out, and find pasture.
10 The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came so that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
12 The hired worker, who is not a shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep, and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
13 He runs away because he is a hired worker and does not care about the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and they know me,
15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 I have other sheep that are not from this pen. I must bring them too, and they will hear my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd.
17 That is why the Father loves me: I lay down my life so that I may take it up again.
18 No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. I received this command from my Father.”
19 There was another division among the Jews because of these words.
20 Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is out of his mind. Why do you listen to him?”
21 Others were saying, “These are not the words of someone with a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
22 Then the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter.
23 Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon’s Colonnade.
24 So the Jews surrounded him and said, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me.
26 But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep.
27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.
28 I give them eternal life. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
29 What my Father has given me is greater than all, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand.
30 I and the Father are one.”
31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these works are you stoning me?”
33 The Jews answered him, “We are not stoning you for a good work, but for blasphemy, because you, a human being, make yourself God.”
34 Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your Scriptures: ‘I said, “You are gods”’?
35 He called those to whom the word of God came ‘gods,’ and Scripture cannot be set aside.
36 What about the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world? You say to him, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not believe me.
38 But if I am doing them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
39 Then they tried again to seize him, but he escaped from their grasp.
40 He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had first been baptizing, and he stayed there.
41 Many came to him and were saying, “John performed no sign, but everything John said about this man was true.”
42 And many believed in him there.
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