The Preacher's Bible

“Most certainly, I tell you, one who doesn’t enter by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, is a thief and a robber. ²But one who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. ⁵They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don’t know the voice of strangers.” ⁶Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they didn’t understand what he was telling them.

⁷Jesus therefore said to them again, “Most certainly, I tell you, I am the sheep’s door. ⁸All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. ⁹I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out and will find pasture. ¹⁰The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. ¹¹“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹²He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them. ¹³The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care for the sheep. ¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own; ¹⁵even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶I have other sheep which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd. ¹⁷Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. ¹⁸No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father.”

¹⁹Therefore a division arose again 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 sayings of one possessed by a demon. It isn’t possible for a demon to open the eyes of the blind, is it?”

²²It was the Feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem. ²³It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. ²⁴The Jews therefore came around him and said to him, “How long will you hold us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

²⁵Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you don’t believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, these testify about me. ²⁶But you don’t believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you. ²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰I and the Father are one.”

³¹Therefore the Jews took up stones again to stone him. ³²Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”

³³The Jews answered him, “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”

³⁴Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? ³⁵If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken), ³⁶do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? ³⁷If I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me. ³⁸But if I do them, though you don’t believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

³⁹They sought again to seize him, and he went out of their hand. ⁴⁰He went away again beyond the Jordan into the place where John was baptizing at first, and he stayed there. ⁴¹Many came to him. They said, “John indeed did no sign, but everything that John said about this man is true.” ⁴²Many believed in him there.