< John 10 >
1 In truth I tell you, whoever does not go into the sheepfold through the door, but climbs up at some other place, that man is a thief and a robber;
2 but the man who goes in through the door is shepherd to the sheep.
3 For him the watchman opens the door; and the sheep listen to his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.
4 When he has brought them all out, he walks in front of them, and his sheep follow him, because they know his voice.
5 They will not follow a stranger, but will run away from him; because they do not know a stranger’s voice.”
6 This was the allegory that Jesus told them, but they did not understand of what he was speaking.
7 So he continued: “In truth I tell you, I am the Door for the sheep.
8 All who came before me were thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not listen to them.
9 I am the Door; he who goes in through me will be safe, and he will go in and out and find pasture.
10 The thief comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy; I have come that they may have Life, and may have it in greater fullness.
11 I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.
12 The hired man who is not a shepherd, and who does not own the sheep, when he sees a wolf coming, leaves them and runs away; then the wolf seizes them, and scatters the flock.
13 He does this because he is only a hired man and does not care about the sheep.
14 I am the Good Shepherd; and I know my sheep, and my sheep 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 besides, which do not belong to this fold; I must lead them also, and they will listen to my voice; and they shall become one flock under ‘one Shepherd.’
17 This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life — to receive it again.
18 No one took it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to receive it again. This is the command which I received from my Father.”
19 In consequence of these words a difference of opinion again arose among the Jews.
20 Many of them said: “He is possessed by a demon and is mad; why do you listen to him?”
21 Others said: “This is not the teaching of one who is possessed by a demon. Can a demon give sight to the blind?”
22 Soon after this the Festival of the Re-dedication was held at Jerusalem.
23 It was winter; and Jesus was walking in the Temple Courts, in the Colonnade of Solomon,
24 when the Jews gathered round him, and said: “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us so frankly.”
25 “I have told you so,” replied Jesus, “and you do not believe me. The work that I am doing in my Father’s name bears testimony to me.
26 But you do not believe me, because you are not of my flock.
27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me;
28 and I give them Immortal Life, and they shall not be lost; nor shall any one snatch them out of my hands. (aiōn , aiōnios )
29 What my Father has entrusted to me is more than all else; and no one can snatch anything out of the Father’s hands.
30 The Father and I are one.”
31 The Jews again brought stones to throw at him;
32 and seeing this, Jesus said: “I have done before your eyes many good actions, inspired by the Father; for which of them would you stone me?”
33 “It is not for any good action that we would stone you,” answered the Jews, “but for blasphemy; and because you, who are only a man, make yourself out to be God.”
34 “Are there not,” replied Jesus, “these words in your Law — ‘I said “Ye are gods”’?
35 If those to whom God’s word were addressed were said to be ‘gods’ — and Scripture cannot be set aside —
36 Do you say of one whom the Father has consecrated and sent as his Messenger to the world ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said ‘I am God’s Son’?
37 If I am not doing the work that my Father is doing, do not believe me;
38 if I am doing it, even though you do not believe me, believe what that work shows; so that you may understand, and understand more and more clearly, that the Father is in union with me, and I with the Father.”
39 Upon this the Jews again sought to arrest him; but he escaped their hands.
40 Then Jesus again crossed the Jordan to the place where John used to baptize at first, and stayed there some time, during which many people came to see him.
41 “John gave no sign of his mission,” they said; “but everything that he said about this man was true.”
42 And many learned to believe in Jesus there.
