1 “ Truly, truly, I say to you, he 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 B ut he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.

3 T o him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

4 W hen he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.

5 A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”

6 T his figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.

7 S o Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

8 A ll who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear 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 T he thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

11 “ I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

12 H e 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 them.

13 H e flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.

14 I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,

15 e ven as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.

16 I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.

17 F or this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.

18 N o one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

19 A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words.

20 M any of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?”

21 O thers were saying, “These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?” Jesus Asserts His Deity

22 A t that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem;

23 i t was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.

24 T he Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

25 J esus 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 B ut you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.

27 M y sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;

28 a nd I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

29 M y 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 T he Jews picked up stones again to stone Him.

32 J esus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?”

33 T he Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.”

34 J esus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘ I said, you are gods ’?

35 I f he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),

36 d o you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘ I am the Son of God’?

37 I f I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;

38 b ut if I do them, 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 T herefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp.

40 A nd He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there.

41 M any came to Him and were saying, “While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.”

42 M any believed in Him there.