10:1 I assure you that whoever doesn’t enter into the sheep pen through the gate but climbs over the wall is a thief and an outlaw.
10:2 The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
10:3 The guard at the gate opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
10:4 Whenever he has gathered all of his sheep, he goes before them and they follow him, because they know his voice.
10:5 They won’t follow a stranger but will run away because they don’t know the stranger’s voice.”
10:6 Those who heard Jesus use this analogy didn’t understand what he was saying.
10:7 So Jesus spoke again, “I assure you that I am the gate of the sheep.
10:8 All who came before me were thieves and outlaws, but the sheep didn’t listen to them.
10:9 I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture.
10:10 The thief enters only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came so that they could have life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest.
10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
10:12 When the hired hand sees the wolf coming, he leaves the sheep and runs away. That’s because he isn’t the shepherd; the sheep aren’t really his. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them.
10:13 He’s only a hired hand and the sheep don’t matter to him.
10:14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep and they know me,
10:15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. I give up my life for the sheep.
10:16 I have other sheep that don’t belong to this sheep pen. I must lead them too. They will listen to my voice and there will be one flock, with one shepherd.
10:17 “This is why the Father loves me: I give up my life so that I can take it up again.
10:18 No one takes it from me, but I give it up because I want to. I have the right to give it up, and I have the right to take it up again. I received this commandment from my Father.”
10:19 There was another division among the Jews because of Jesus’ words.
10:20 Many of them said, “He has a demon and has lost his mind. Why listen to him?”
10:21 Others said, “These aren’t the words of someone who has a demon. Can a demon heal the eyes of people who are blind?”
10:22 The time came for the Festival of Dedication in Jerusalem. It was winter,
10:23 and Jesus was in the temple, walking in the covered porch named for Solomon.
10:24 The Jewish opposition circled around him and asked, “How long will you test our patience? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
10:25 Jesus answered, “I have told you, but you don’t believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me,
10:26 but you don’t believe because you don’t belong to my sheep.
10:27 My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me.
10:28 I give them eternal life. They will never die, and no one will snatch them from my hand.
10:29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them from my Father’s hand.
10:31 Again the Jewish opposition picked up stones in order to stone him.
10:32 Jesus responded, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”
10:33 The Jewish opposition answered, “We don’t stone you for a good work but for insulting God. You are human, yet you make yourself out to be God.”
10:34 Jesus replied, “Isn’t it written in your Law, I have said, you are gods?
10:35 Scripture calls those to whom God’s word came gods , and scripture can’t be abolished.
10:36 So how can you say that the one whom the Father has made holy and sent into the world insults God because he said, ‘I am God’s Son’?
10:37 If I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me.
10:38 But if I do them, and you don’t believe me, believe the works so that you can know and recognize that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
10:39 Again, they wanted to arrest him, but he escaped from them.
10:40 Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had baptized at first, and he stayed there.
10:41 Many people came to him. “John didn’t do any miraculous signs,” they said, “but everything John said about this man was true.”
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