John 10

²But the one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

³The gatekeeper opens for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

⁴When he has brought out his own sheep, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.

⁵They will not follow a stranger, but will run away from him, because they do not know the voices of strangers.

⁶Jesus spoke this figure of speech to them, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

⁷Then Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I tell 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 through me, that person will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

¹⁰The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

¹¹I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.

¹²But a hired worker, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and runs away; and the wolf catches them and scatters the sheep.

¹³The hired worker runs away because he is hired and does not care for the sheep.

¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and my sheep know me.

¹⁵Just as the Father knows me, I also 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 too, and they will hear my voice; and there will be one fold and one shepherd.

¹⁷For this reason my Father loves me: because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again.

¹⁸No one takes it from me, but I lay it down by my own choice. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. I received this command from my Father.

¹⁹Therefore there was division again among the Jews because of these words.

²⁰And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to him?”

²¹Others said, “These are not the words of someone who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

²²And it was winter during the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem.

²³And Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon's Porch.

²⁴Then the Jews surrounded him and said, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

²⁵Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you did not believe. The works I do in my Father's name testify about me.”

²⁶But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep, as I told you.

²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

²⁸And I 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 my Father's hand.

³⁰I and my Father are one.

³¹Then the Jews picked up stones again to stone him.

³²Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works are you stoning me?”

³³The Jews answered him, “We are not stoning you for a good work, 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 God's word came—and Scripture cannot be broken—

³⁶Do you say of the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, 'You blaspheme,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?

³⁷If I do not do my Father's works, do not believe me.

³⁸But if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I am in him.

³⁹Therefore they tried again to seize him, but he escaped from their hand.

⁴⁰And he went away again beyond the Jordan, to the place where John had first baptized, and he stayed there.

⁴¹And many came to him and said, “John did no miracle, but everything John said about this man was true.”

⁴²And many believed in him there.