John 10:5-26

⁵They will not follow a stranger but instead they will avoid him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

⁶Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they did not understand what these things were that he was saying to them.

⁷Then Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the gate of the sheep.

⁸Everyone who came before me is a thief and a robber, but the sheep did not listen to them.

⁹I am the gate. If anyone enters in through me, he will be saved; he will go in and out and will find pasture.

¹⁰The thief does not come if he would not steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they will have life and have it abundantly.

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

¹²The hired servant is not a shepherd and does not own the sheep. He sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and escapes, and the wolf carries them off and scatters them.

¹³He runs away because he is a hired servant and does not care for the sheep.

¹⁴I am the good shepherd, and I know my own, and my own know me.

¹⁵The Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.

¹⁶I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice so that there will be one flock and one shepherd.

¹⁷This is why the Father loves me: I lay down my life so that I may take it again.

¹⁸No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

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

²⁰Many of them said, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to him?”

²¹Others said, “These are not the words of a demon-possessed man. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

²²Then it was time for the Festival of the Dedication in Jerusalem.

²³It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the porch of Solomon.

²⁴Then the Jews surrounded him and said to him, “How long will you hold us doubting? If you are the Christ, tell us openly.”

²⁵Jesus replied to them, “I told you, but you do not believe. The works that I do in the name of my Father, these testify concerning me.

²⁶Yet you do not believe because you are not my sheep.