João 10

The Good Shepherd

1 "Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber.* 10:1 Jr 7:11; Hs 6:9; 1Th 5:2,4; 2Pt 3:10; Rv 3:3; 16:152 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd* 10:2 Gn 4:2; Ps 23:1of the sheep.* 10:2 Mt 7:153 The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.4 When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice.5 They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers."6 Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand  * 10:6 Mk 9:32; Lk 2:50; 9:45; 18:34; Jn 2:24; 12:16 what he was telling them.

7 Jesus said again, "Truly I tell you, I am* 10:7 Ex 3:14; Ps 45:8; Jn 8:24the gate for the sheep.* 10:7 Mt 7:158 All who came before me* 10:8 Other mss omit before meare thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them.9 I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.10 A thief comes only to steal* 10:10 Eph 4:28and kill and destroy.* 10:10 Jn 6:27I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

11 "I am the good shepherd.* 10:11 Ps 23; Is 40:11; Ezk 34:12,23; 37:24; Zch 13:7; Jn 21:15–17; Heb 13:20; 1Pt 2:25; 5:4; Rv 7:17The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.* 10:11 Mt 20:28; Mk 10:45; 2Co 5:21; Gl 3:13; 1Jn 3:1612 The hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, leaves them* 10:12 Lit leaves the sheepand runs away when he sees a wolf* 10:12 Lk 10:3coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them.13 This happens because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care about the sheep.

14 "I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me,15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father.* 10:15 Mt 11:27; Lk 10:22I lay down my life* 10:15 Mt 20:28for the sheep.16 But I have other sheep* 10:16 Is 56:8; Ezk 34:11–13; Mt 8:11,12; Jn 12:32; Ac 10:34–35; 1Pt 2:25that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd.* 10:16 Ezk 34:23; 37:24; Jn 11:52; 17:11,20–22; Eph 2:11–1917 This is why the Father loves me,* 10:17 Jn 3:35; 5:20because I lay down my life* 10:17 1Jn 3:16so that I may take it up again.18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father."* 10:18 Jn 5:19

19 Again the Jews were divided  * 10:19 Jn 7:43; 9:16 because of these words. 20 Many of them were saying, "He has a demon  * 10:20 Jn 7:20; 8:48; Rv 9:20; 18:2 and he’s crazy. Why do you listen to him? " 21 Others were saying, "These aren’t the words of someone who is demon-possessed. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? "  * 10:21 Ex 4:11; Ps 146:8; Jn 9:32–33

Jesus at the Festival of Dedication

22 Then the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem, and it was winter. 23 Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon’s Colonnade.  * 10:23 Ac 3:11; 5:1224 The Jews surrounded him and asked, "How long are you going to keep us in suspense?  * 10:24 Lit "How long are you taking away our life? If you are the Messiah,  * 10:24 Mt 1:17; Eph 5:2 tell us plainly."  * 10:24 Or openly, orpublicly,* 10:24 Mt 26:63; Lk 22:67; 2Co 3:12

25 "I did tell you and you don’t believe," Jesus answered them. "The works* 10:25 Jn 5:36; 6:28–29; Rm 14:20; Heb 3:9; 2Jn 8; Rv 15:3that I do in my Father’s name testify about me.26 But you don’t believe because you are not of my sheep.* 10:26 Other mss add just as I told you,* 10:26 Jn 6:37; 8:4727 My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.28 I give them eternal life,* 10:28 Jn 12:25; Ac 13:48; 1Jn 2:25and they will never perish.* 10:28 Mt 10:42; Mk 9:41; Lk 21:18; Jn 3:16; 6:27,39; 17:12; 18:9; 2Co 4:9; 2Jn 8No one will snatch* 10:28 1Th 4:17them out of my hand.29 My Father,* 10:29 Mt 11:27who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.30 I and the Father are one."* 10:30 Jn 1:15; 14:10; 17:11; 1Jn 2:24

Renewed Efforts to Stone Jesus

31 Again the Jews picked up rocks to stone him.  * 10:31 Jn 11:8

32 Jesus replied, "I have shown you many good works* 10:32 Jn 5:36; 15:24from the Father. For which of these works are you stoning me? "

33 "We aren’t stoning  * 10:33 Lv 24:16; Mt 9:3; 26:62–66; Jn 5:18; 8:59 you for a good work," the Jews answered, "but for blasphemy, because you — being a man — make yourself God."

34 Jesus answered them, "Isn’t it written in your law,* 10:34 Other mss read in the scriptureI said, you are gods?* 10:34 Ps 82:6,* 10:34 Ps 82:635 If he called those to whom the word* 10:35 Lk 8:21; Jn 2:22; 18:32of God came ‘gods’ — and the Scripture* 10:35 Mt 26:54cannot be broken —  36 do you say, ‘You are blaspheming’ to the one the Father set apart and sent into the world, because I said: I am the Son of God?* 10:36 Jn 5:19; Heb 1:237 If I am not doing my Father’s works,* 10:37 Jn 5:36; 15:24; Heb 3:9; Rv 15:3don’t believe me.38 But if I am doing them and you don’t believe me, believe the works. This way you will know and understand* 10:38 Other mss read know and believethat the Father is in me and I in the Father."* 10:38 Jn 14:10; 1Jn 5:2039 Then they were trying again to seize him,  * 10:39 Jn 7:44 but he escaped their grasp.  * 10:39 Lk 4:30

Many beyond the Jordan Believe in Jesus

40 So he departed again across the Jordan  * 10:40 Mk 10:1; Lk 3:3 to the place where John  * 10:40 Mk 1:4 had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. 41 Many came to him  * 10:41 Mk 1:45 and said, "John never did a sign, but everything John said about this man was true." 42 And many believed in him there.