John 10:5-26

⁵They will not follow a stranger, but will run away from him; because they do not know a stranger's voice.”

⁶This was the allegory that Jesus told them, but they did not understand of what he was speaking.

⁷So he continued, “In truth I tell you, I am the door for the sheep.

⁸All who came before me were thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not listen to them.

⁹I am the door; he who goes in through me will be safe, and he will go in and out and find pasture.

¹⁰The thief comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it in greater fullness.

¹¹I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.

¹²The hired man who is not a shepherd, and who does not own the sheep, when he sees a wolf coming, leaves them and runs away; then the wolf seizes them, and scatters the flock.

¹³He does this because he is only a hired man and does not care about the sheep.

¹⁴I am the good shepherd; and I know my sheep, and my sheep know me —

¹⁵Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep.

¹⁶I have other sheep besides, which do not belong to this fold; I must lead them also, and they will listen to my voice; and they will become one flock under one shepherd.

¹⁷This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life — to receive it again.

¹⁸No one took it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to receive it again. This is the command which I received from my Father.”

¹⁹In consequence of these words a difference of opinion again arose among the people.

²⁰Many of them said, “He is possessed by a demon and is mad; why do you listen to him?”

²¹Others said, “This is not the teaching of one who is possessed by a demon. Can a demon give sight to the blind?”

²²Soon after this the Festival of the Rededication was held at Jerusalem.

²³It was winter; and Jesus was walking in the Temple Courts, in the Colonnade of Solomon,

²⁴when the people gathered around him, and said, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us so frankly.”

²⁵“I have told you so,” replied Jesus, “and you do not believe me. The work that I am doing in my Father's name bears testimony to me.

²⁶But you do not believe me, because you are not of my flock.