I Am the Good Shepherd

¹“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. ²But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. ⁵yA stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” ⁶This figure of speech Jesus zused with them, but they adid not understand what he was saying to them.

⁷So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, bI 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 by me, che will be saved and will go in and out and dfind pasture. ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and ekill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. ¹¹fI am the good shepherd. The good shepherd glays down his life for the sheep. ¹²He who is ha hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and ileaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and jscatters them. ¹³He flees because khe is a hired hand and lcares nothing for the sheep. ¹⁴mI am the good shepherd. nI know my own and omy own know me, ¹⁵pjust as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and qI lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶And rI have other sheep that are not of this fold. sI must bring them also, and tthey will listen to my voice. So there will be uone flock, vone shepherd. ¹⁷wFor this reason the Father loves me, xbecause yI lay down my life that I may take it up again. ¹⁸zNo one takes it from me, but yI lay it down aof my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and bI have authority to take it up again. cThis charge I have received from my Father.”

¹⁹dThere was again a division among the Jews because of these words. ²⁰Many of them said, e“He has a demon, and fis insane; why listen to him?” ²¹Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. gCan a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

I and the Father Are One

²²At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³and Jesus was walking in the temple, hin the colonnade of Solomon. ²⁴So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are ithe Christ, jtell us plainly.” ²⁵Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. kThe works that I do lin my Father's name bear witness about me, ²⁶but myou do not believe because you are not among my sheep. ²⁷nMy sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸oI give them eternal life, and pthey will never perish, and qno one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, rwho has given them to me,1 sis greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of tthe Father's hand. ³⁰uI and the Father are one.”

³¹vThe Jews picked up stones again to stone him. ³²Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” ³³The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but wfor blasphemy, because you, being a man, xmake yourself God.” ³⁴Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in yyour Law, z‘I said, you are gods’? ³⁵If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be abroken— ³⁶do you say of him whom bthe Father consecrated and csent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because dI said, ‘I am the Son of God’? ³⁷eIf I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; ³⁸but if I do them, feven though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that gthe Father is in me and I am in the Father.” ³⁹hAgain they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

⁴⁰He went away again across the Jordan to the place iwhere John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. ⁴¹And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but jeverything that John said about this man was true.” ⁴²And kmany believed in him there.