John 10 — NETB

10Verse 1“I tell you the solemn truth, the one who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.^{Verse 2}The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.^{Verse 3}The doorkeeper opens the door for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.^{Verse 4}When he has brought all his own sheep out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice.^{Verse 5}They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him, because they do not recognize the stranger’s voice.”^{Verse 6}Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.^{Verse 7}So Jesus said to them again, “I tell you the solemn truth, I am the door for the sheep.^{Verse 8}All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.^{Verse 9}I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out, and find pasture.^{Verse 10}The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.^{Verse 11}“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.^{Verse 12}The hired hand, who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and runs away. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them.^{Verse 13}Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, he runs away.^{Verse 14}“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me –^{Verse 15}just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep.^{Verse 16}I have other sheep that do not come from this sheepfold. I must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice, so that there will be one flock and one shepherd.^{Verse 17}This is why the Father loves me – because I lay down my life, so that I may take it back again.^{Verse 18}No one takes it away from me, but 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 commandment I received from my Father.”^{Verse 19}Another sharp division took place among the Jewish people because of these words.^{Verse 20}Many of them were saying, “He is possessed by a demon and has lost his mind! Why do you listen to him?”^{Verse 21}Others said, “These are not the words of someone possessed by a demon. A demon cannot cause the blind to see, can it?”

Jesus at the Feast of Dedication

^{Verse 22}Then came the feast of the Dedication in Jerusalem.^{Verse 23}It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple area in Solomon’s Portico.^{Verse 24}The Jewish leaders surrounded him and asked, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”^{Verse 25}Jesus replied, “I told you and you do not believe. The deeds I do in my Father’s name testify about me.^{Verse 26}But you refuse to believe because you are not my sheep.^{Verse 27}My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.^{Verse 28}I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand.^{Verse 29}My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father’s hand.^{Verse 30}The Father and I are one.”^{Verse 31}The Jewish leaders picked up rocks again to stone him to death.^{Verse 32}Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good deeds from the Father. For which one of them are you going to stone me?”^{Verse 33}The Jewish leaders replied, “We are not going to stone you for a good deed but for blasphemy, because you, a man, are claiming to be God.”^{Verse 34}Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’?^{Verse 35}If those people to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’ (and the scripture cannot be broken),^{Verse 36}do you say about the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?^{Verse 37}If I do not perform the deeds of my Father, do not believe me.^{Verse 38}But if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe the deeds, so that you may come to know and understand that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”^{Verse 39}Then they attempted again to seize him, but he escaped their clutches.^{Verse 40}Jesus went back across the Jordan River again to the place where John had been baptizing at an earlier time, and he stayed there.^{Verse 41}Many came to him and began to say, “John performed no miraculous sign, but everything John said about this man was true!”^{Verse 42}And many believed in Jesus there.