John 10

¹ 'In al truth I tel you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but climbs in someother way, is a thief and a bandit.

² He who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock;

³ the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leadsthem out.

⁴ When he has brought out al those that are his, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep fol ow becausethey know his voice.

⁵ They wil never fol ow a stranger, but wil run away from him because they do not recognise the voiceof strangers.'

⁶ Jesus told them this parable but they failed to understand what he was saying to them.

⁷ So Jesus spoke to them again: In all truth I tell you, I am the gate of the sheepfold.

⁸ Al who have come before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep took no notice of them.

⁹ I am the gate. Anyone who enters through me will be safe: such a one will go in and out and wil findpasture.

¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kil and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have itto the full.

¹¹ I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.

¹² The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him, abandons thesheep as soon as he sees a wolf coming, and runs away, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep;

¹³ he runs away because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep.

¹⁴ I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me,

¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep.

¹⁶ And there are other sheep I have that are not of this fold, and I must lead these too. They too willlisten to my voice, and there wil be only one flock, one shepherd.

¹⁷ The Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.

¹⁸ No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own free wil , and as I have power to lay it down, so Ihave power to take it up again; and this is the command I have received from my Father.

¹⁹ These words caused a fresh division among the Jews.

²⁰ Many said, 'He is possessed, he is raving; why do you listen to him?'

²¹ Others said, 'These are not the words of a man possessed by a devil: could a devil open the eyes ofthe blind?'

²² It was the time of the feast of Dedication in Jerusalem. It was winter,

²³ and Jesus was in the Temple walking up and down in the Portico of Solomon.

²⁴ The Jews gathered round him and said, 'How much longer are you going to keep us in suspense? Ifyou are the Christ, tel us openly.'

²⁵ Jesus replied: I have told you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father's name are mywitness;

²⁶ but you do not believe, because you are no sheep of mine.

²⁷ The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.

²⁸ I give them eternal life; they will never be lost and no one wil ever steal them from my hand.

²⁹ The Father, for what he has given me, is greater than anyone, and no one can steal anything fromthe Father's hand.

³⁰ The Father and I are one.

³¹ The Jews fetched stones to stone him,

³² so Jesus said to them, 'I have shown you many good works from my Father; for which of these areyou stoning me?'

³³ The Jews answered him, 'We are stoning you, not for doing a good work, but for blasphemy; thoughyou are only a man, you claim to be God.'

³⁴ Jesus answered: Is it not written in your Law: I said, you are gods?

³⁵ So it uses the word 'gods' of those people to whom the word of God was addressed -- and scripturecannot be set aside.

³⁶ Yet to someone whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world you say, 'You areblaspheming' because I said, 'I am Son of God.'

³⁷ If I am not doing my Father's work, there is no need to believe me;

³⁸ but if I am doing it, then even if you refuse to believe in me, at least believe in the work I do; then youwil know for certain that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.

³⁹ They again wanted to arrest him then, but he eluded their clutches.

⁴⁰ He went back again to the far side of the Jordan to the district where John had been baptising at firstand he stayed there.

⁴¹ Many people who came to him said, 'John gave no signs, but all he said about this man was true';

⁴² and many of them believed in him.