John 10:1-42
10 “Verily, verily I tell you, he who does not come into the fold of sheep through the door but climbs in elsewhere, that man is a thief and a robber;
2 * but he who comes in through the door is shepherd of those sheep.
3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his sheep by name and leads them out.
4 When he gets out all that are his, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice;
5 but a man they do not belong to they will not follow but will run away from him, because they do not know the voices of men they do not belong to.”
6 This parable Jesus told them; but they did not know what the things he spoke to them meant.
7 So Jesus said again “Verily, verily I tell you that I am the door for the sheep.
8 All that came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not listen to them.
9 * I am the door; anyone who enters through me will be safe and sound and go in and out and find pasturage.
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and waste; I came that they may have life and plenty of it.
11 I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
12 The hired man, who is not actual shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs, and the wolf carries them off and scatters them;
13 because he is a hired man and does not care about the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me,
15 as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 And I have other sheep which do not belong to this fold; those too I must bring, and they will hear my voice, and there will come to be one flock, one shepherd.
17 “That is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, to take it again.
18 Nobody has deprived me of it, but I lay it down of my own accord. I am authorized to lay it down and I am authorized to take it again; I was given this commission by my Father.”
19 There came a split among the Jews again because of these words.
20 And many of them said “He has a demon-possession and is out of his head; why do you listen to him?”
21 others said “These words are not a possessed man’s; can a demon-possession open blind men’s eyes?”
22 At that time came the feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem; it was winter;
23 and Jesus was walking in the temple-precinct, in Solomon’s Porch.
24 So the Jews surrounded him and said to him “How long are you keeping us in suspense? if you are the Messiah, tell us frankly.”
25 Jesus answered them “I told you and you do not believe. The very deeds I am doing in my Father’s name testify about me;
26 but you do not believe because you are not sheep of mine.
27 My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me,
28 and I give them eternal life, and they shall not be lost forevermore, and no one will carry them off out of my hands.
29 My Father who has given to me is greatest of all things, and nobody can carry off out of the Father’s hands.
30 I and the Father are one.”
31 Again the Jews lifted stones to stone him.
32 Jesus answered “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning me?”
33 The Jews answered “We are not stoning you in reference to a good work, but to a blasphemy and because you, being a man, are claiming to be God.”
34 Jesus answered “Is it not set down in your law ‘I said, You are gods’?
35 If he called those men gods, those who had had God’s word coming to them, and the text cannot be invalidated,
36 do you say of the one whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world ‘You are blaspheming’ because I said ‘I am God’s son’?
37 If I do not do my Father’s deeds, do not believe me;
38 but if I do, even if you do not believe me believe the deeds, that you may find out and know that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
39 So they again meant to arrest him; and he came out of their hands,
40 and went off across the Jordan again to the place where John had first been when he was baptizing, and stayed there;
41 and many came to him and said “John did not do any token, but everything John said about this man was true”;
42 and many believed in him there.
