Chapter 10

  'Most assuredly, I tell you, he who doesn't enter by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.  

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  But he who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.  

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  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.  

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  Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.  

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  They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don't know the voice of strangers.'  

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  Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they didn't understand what he was telling them.  

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  Jesus therefore said to them again, 'Most assuredly, I tell you, I am the sheep's door.  

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  All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn't listen to them.  

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  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.  

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

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

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  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.  

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  The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn't care for the sheep.  

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  I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I'm known by my own;  

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  even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.  

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  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.  

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  Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.  

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  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.'  

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  Therefore a division arose again among the Jews because of these words.  

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  Many of them said, 'He has a demon, and is mad! Why do you listen to him?'  

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  Others said, 'These are not the sayings of one possessed with a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?'  

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  It was the Feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem.  

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  It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon's porch.  

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  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.'  

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  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.  

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  But you don't believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you.  

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

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  I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  

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  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.  

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  I and the Father are one.'  

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  Therefore Jews took up stones again to stone him.  

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  Jesus answered them, 'I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?'  

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  The Jews answered him, 'We don't stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God.'  

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  Jesus answered them, 'Isn't it written in your law, 'I said, you are gods?'  

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  If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the scripture can't be broken),  

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  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?'  

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  If I don't do the works of my Father, don't believe me.  

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  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.'  

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  They sought again to seize him, and he went forth out of their hand.  

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  He went away again beyond the Jordan into the place where John was at the first baptizing, and there he stayed.  

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  Many came to him. They said, 'John indeed did no sign, but everything whatever that John said about this man is true.'  

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  Many believed in him there.  

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