OEB - John - 10

10:1  In truth I tell you, whoever does not go into the sheepfold through the door, but climbs up at some other place, that person is a thief and a robber;

10:2  but the person who goes in through the door is shepherd to the sheep.

10:3  For him the watchman opens the door; and the sheep listen to his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.

10:4  When he has brought them all out, he walks in front of them, and his sheep follow him, because they know his voice.

10:5  They will not follow a stranger, but will run away from him; because they do not know a stranger’s voice.”

10:6  This was the allegory that Jesus told them, but they did not understand of what he was speaking.

10:7  So he continued: “In truth I tell you, I am the door for the sheep.

10:8  All who came before me were thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not listen to them.

10:9  I am the door; he who goes in through me will be safe, and he will go in and out and find pasture.

10:10  The thief comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it in greater fullness.

10:11  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.

10:12  The hired man who is not a shepherd, and who does not own the sheep, when he sees a wolf coming, leaves them and runs away; then the wolf seizes them, and scatters the flock.

10:13  He does this because he is only a hired man and does not care about the sheep.

10:14  I am the good shepherd; and I know my sheep, and my sheep know me —

10:15  Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep.

10:16  I have other sheep besides, which do not belong to this fold; I must lead them also, and they will listen to my voice; and they will become one flock under ‘one shepherd.’

10:17  This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life — to receive it again.

10:18  No one took it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to receive it again. This is the command which I received from my Father.”

10:19  In consequence of these words a difference of opinion again arose among the people.

10:20  Many of them said: “He is possessed by a demon and is mad; why do you listen to him?”

10:21  Others said: “This is not the teaching of one who is possessed by a demon. Can a demon give sight to the blind?”

10:22  Soon after this the Festival of the Rededication was held at Jerusalem.

10:23  It was winter; and Jesus was walking in the Temple Courts, in the Colonnade of Solomon,

10:24  when the people gathered around him, and said: “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us so frankly.”

10:25  “I have told you so,”replied Jesus, “and you do not believe me. The work that I am doing in my Father’s name bears testimony to me.

10:26  But you do not believe me, because you are not of my flock.

10:27  My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me;

10:28  and I give them eternal life, and they will not be lost; nor will anyone snatch them out of my hands.

10:29  What my Father has entrusted to me is more than all else; and no one can snatch anything out of the Father’s hands.

10:30  The Father and I are one.”

10:31  Some of the people again brought stones to throw at him;

10:32  and seeing this, Jesus said: “I have done before your eyes many good actions, inspired by the Father; for which of them would you stone me?”

10:33  “It is not for any good action that we would stone you,” they answered, “but for blasphemy; and because you, who are only a man, make yourself out to be God.”

10:34  “Are there not,”replied Jesus, “these words in your law — ‘I said “You are gods”’?

10:35  If those to whom God’s word were addressed were said to be ‘gods’ — and scripture cannot be set aside —

10:36  Do you say of one whom the Father has consecrated and sent as his messenger to the world ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said ‘I am God’s Son’?

10:37  If I am not doing the work that my Father is doing, do not believe me;

10:38  if I am doing it, even though you do not believe me, believe what that work shows; so that you may understand, and understand more and more clearly, that the Father is in union with me, and I with the Father.”

10:39  The authorities again sought to arrest him; but he escaped their hands.

10:40  Then Jesus again crossed the Jordan to the place where John used to baptize at first, and stayed there some time, during which many people came to see him.

10:41  “John gave no sign of his mission,” they said; “but everything that he said about this man was true.”

10:42  And many learned to believe in Jesus there.