The Illustration of the Sheepfold

1“Truly, I tell all of youa emphatically, the person who doesn’t enter the sheepfold through the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a bandit. 2The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3It’s to him the gatekeeper opens the gate, and it’s his voice the sheep hear. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has driven out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. 5They’ll never follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they don’t recognize the voice of strangers.” 6Jesus used this illustration with them, but they didn’t understand what he was saying to them.

Jesus the Good Shepherd

7So again Jesus said, “Truly, I tell all of youb emphatically, I’m the gate for the sheep. 8All who came before mec are thieves and bandits, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. 9I’m the gate. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved. He’ll come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal, slaughter, and destroy. I’ve come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

11“I’m the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays downd his life for the sheep. 12The hired worker, who isn’t the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, deserts the sheep, and runs away. So the wolf snatches them and scatters them, 13because he’s a hired worker, and the sheep don’t matter to him.

14I’m the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay downe my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that don’t belong to this fold. I must lead these also, and they’ll listen to my voice. So there will be one flock and one shepherd. 17This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it back again. 18No one is taking it from me; I lay it down of my own free will. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again. This is what my Father has commanded me.”

19Once again there was a division among the Jewsf because of what Jesus had been saying. 20Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why bother listening to him?”

21Others were saying, “These are not the words of a man who is demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can it?”

Jesus is Rejected by the Jews

22Nowg Hanukkahh was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was walking around in the Temple inside the open porch of Solomon. 24So the Jewish leadersi surrounded him and quizzed him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you’re the Messiah,j tell us so plainly.”

25Jesus answered them, “I have told you, but you don’t believe it. The actions that I do in my Father’s name testify on my behalf, 26but you don’t believe, because you don’t belong to my sheep.k 27My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, they’ll never be lost, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29What my Father has given mel is more important than anything,m and no one can snatch it from the Father’s hand. 30I and the Father are one.”

31Again the Jewish leadersn picked up stones to stone him to death.

32Jesus replied to them, “I’ve shown you many good actions from myo Father. For which of them are you going to stone me?”

33The Jewish leadersp answered him, “We are not going to stone you for a good action, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, are making yourself God!”

34Jesus replied to them, “Is it not written in yourq Law, ‘I said, “You are gods”’?r 35If he called those to whom a message from God came ‘gods’ (and the Scripture cannot be disregarded), 36how can you say to the one whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You’re blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I’m the Son of God’? 37If I’m not doing my Father’s actions, don’t believe me. 38But if I’m doing them, even though you don’t believe me, believe the actions, so that you may know and understands that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

39Again they tried to seize him, but he slipped away from them.t 40Then he went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and he remained there. 41Many people came to him and kept saying, “John never performed a sign, but everything that John said about this man is true!” 42And many believed in Jesusu there.