John 10
John 10
“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. Verse 2. But one who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. Verse 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. Verse 4. Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Verse 5. They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don’t know the voice of strangers.” Verse 6. Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they didn’t understand what he was telling them.
Verse 7. Jesus therefore said to them again, “Most certainly, I tell you, I am the sheep’s door. Verse 8. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. Verse 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. Verse 10. The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
Verse 11. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Verse 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. Verse 13. The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care for the sheep. Verse 14. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own; Verse 15. even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. Verse 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. Verse 17. Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. Verse 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.”
Verse 19. Therefore a division arose again among the Jews because of these words. Verse 20. Many of them said, “He has a demon and is insane! Why do you listen to him?” Verse 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?”
Verse 22. It was the Feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem. Verse 23. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. Verse 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.”
Verse 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. Verse 26. But you don’t believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you. Verse 27. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. Verse 28. I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. Verse 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. Verse 30. I and the Father are one.”
Verse 31. Therefore the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Verse 32. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”
Verse 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.”
Verse 34. Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? Verse 35. If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken), Verse 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’? Verse 37. If I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me. Verse 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.”
Verse 39. They sought again to seize him, and he went out of their hand. Verse 40. He went away again beyond the Jordan into the place where John was baptizing at first, and he stayed there. Verse 41. Many came to him. They said, “John indeed did no sign, but everything that John said about this man is true.” Verse 42. Many believed in him there.