1 “Most certainly, I tell you, one who
doesn’t enter by the door into the sheep
fold, but climbs up some other way, is a
thief and a robber.
2 But one who enters in by the door is the
shepherd of the sheep.
3 The gatekeeper 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 brings out his own sheep,
he goes before them; and the sheep follow
him, for they know his voice.
5 They will by no means follow a
stranger, but will flee from him; for they
don’t know the voice of strangers.”
6 Jesus spoke this parable to them, but
they didn’t understand what he was telling
them.
7 Jesus therefore said to them again,
“Most certainly, I tell you, I am the sheep’s
door.
8 All who came before me are thieves
and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to
them.
9 I am the door. If anyone enters in by
me, he will be saved, and will go in and go
out and will find pasture.
10 The thief only comes to steal, kill, and
destroy. I came that they may have life,
and may have it abundantly.
11 “I am the good shepherd.* The good
shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
12 He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd,
who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the
wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees.
The wolf snatches the sheep and scatters
them.
13 The hired hand flees because he is a
hired hand and doesn’t care for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd. I know my
own, and I’m known by my own;
15 even as the Father knows me, and I
know the Father. I lay down my life for the
sheep.
16 I have other sheep which are not of
this fold.* I must bring them also, and they
will hear my voice. They will become one
flock with one shepherd.
17 Therefore the Father loves me, because
I lay down my life, * that I may take
it again.
18 No one takes it away from me, but I
lay it down by myself. I have power to
lay it down, and I have power to take it
again. I received this commandment from
my Father.”
19 Therefore a division arose again
among the Jews because of these words.
20 Many of them said, “He has a demon
and is insane! Why do you listen to him?”
21 Others said, “These are not the sayings
of one possessed by a demon. It isn’t possible
for a demon to open the eyes of the
blind, is it?”*
22 It was the Feast of the Dedication† at
Jerusalem.
23 It was winter, and Jesus was walking
in the temple, in Solomon’s porch.
24 The Jews therefore came around him
and said to him, “How long will you hold
us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell
us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and
you don’t believe. The works that I do in
my Father’s name, these testify about me.
26 But you don’t believe, because you are
not of my sheep, as I told you.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know
them, and they follow me.
28 I give eternal life to them. They will
never perish, and no one will snatch them
out of my hand.
29 My Father who has given them to me
is greater than all. No one is able to snatch
them out of my Father’s hand.
30 I and the Father are one.”
31 Therefore the Jews took up stones
again to stone him.
32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown
you many good works from my Father. For
which of those works do you stone me?”
33 The Jews answered him, “We don’t
stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy,
because you, being a man, make
yourself God.”
34 Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written
in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’?*
35 If he called them gods, to whom the
word of God came (and the Scripture can’t
be broken),
36 do you say of him whom the Father
sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You
blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of
God’?
37 If I don’t do the works of my Father,
don’t believe me.
38 But if I do them, though you don’t
believe me, believe the works, that you
may know and believe that the Father is in
me, and I in the Father.”
39 They sought again to seize him, and he
went out of their hand.
40 He went away again beyond the Jordan
into the place where John was baptizing
at first, and he stayed there.
41 Many came to him. They said, “John
indeed did no sign, but everything that
John said about this man is true.”
42 Many believed in him there.
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