• Parable of the Good Shepherd

  • 1 “Truly, truly I say to you, the one who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.
  • 2 But the one who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.
  • 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep listen to his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
  • 4 When he puts all his own sheep outside, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
  • 5 However, a stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
  • 6 Jesus told them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what the things which He was saying to them meant.
  • 7 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
  • 8 All those who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
  • 9 I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
  • 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.
  • 11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
  • 12 He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters the flock.
  • 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and does not care about the sheep.
  • 14 I am the good shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me,
  • 15 just 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 that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice; and they will become one flock, with one shepherd.
  • 17 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it back.
  • 18 No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it back. This commandment I received from My Father.”
  • 19 Dissension occurred again among the Jews because of these words.
  • 20 Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?”
  • 21 Others were saying, “These are not the words of one who is demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of those who are blind, can it?”

  • Jesus Asserts His Deity

  • 22 At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem;
  • 23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple area, in the portico of Solomon.
  • 24 The Jews then surrounded Him and began saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
  • 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.
  • 26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep.
  • 27 My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
  • 28 and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
  • 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
  • 30 I and the Father are one.”
  • 31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him.
  • 32 Jesus replied to them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?”
  • 33 The Jews answered Him, “We are not stoning You for a good work, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.”
  • 34 Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law: ‘I said, you are gods’?
  • 35 If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be nullified),
  • 36 are you saying of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
  • 37 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;
  • 38 but if I do them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”
  • 39 Therefore they were seeking again to arrest Him, and He eluded their grasp.
  • 40 And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He stayed there.
  • 41 Many came to Him and were saying, “While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this Man was true.”
  • 42 And many believed in Him there.