John 10
10
The Good Shepherd and His Sheep
1 “I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! 2But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. 5They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”
6Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant, 7so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who came before me#10:8 Some manuscripts do not include before me. were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. 9Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved.#10:9 Or will find safety. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. 10The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. 12A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. 13The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, 15just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.
17 “The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. 18No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”
19When he said these things, the people#10:19 Greek Jewish people; also in 10:24, 31. were again divided in their opinions about him. 20Some said, “He’s demon possessed and out of his mind. Why listen to a man like that?” 21Others said, “This doesn’t sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
Jesus Claims to Be the Son of God
22It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication. 23He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon’s Colonnade. 24The people surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
25Jesus replied, “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father’s name. 26But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, 29for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else.#10:29 Other manuscripts read for what my Father has given me is more powerful than anything; still others read for regarding that which my Father has given me, he is greater than all. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. 30The Father and I are one.”
31Once again the people picked up stones to kill him. 32Jesus said, “At my Father’s direction I have done many good works. For which one are you going to stone me?”
33They replied, “We’re stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God.”
34Jesus replied, “It is written in your own Scriptures#10:34a Greek your own law. that God said to certain leaders of the people, ‘I say, you are gods!’#10:34b Ps 82:6. 35And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered. So if those people who received God’s message were called ‘gods,’ 36why do you call it blasphemy when I say, ‘I am the Son of God’? After all, the Father set me apart and sent me into the world. 37Don’t believe me unless I carry out my Father’s work. 38But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don’t believe me. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.”
39Once again they tried to arrest him, but he got away and left them. 40He went beyond the Jordan River near the place where John was first baptizing and stayed there awhile. 41And many followed him. “John didn’t perform miraculous signs,” they remarked to one another, “but everything he said about this man has come true.” 42And many who were there believed in Jesus.
Currently Selected:
John 10: NLT
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
For more information about the NLT:
John 10
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. #
Jr 7:11; Hs 6:9; 1Th 5:2,4; 2Pt 3:10; Rv 3:3; 16:15 2The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd#Gn 4:2; Ps 23:1 of the sheep.#Mt 7:15 3The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers.” 6Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand#Mk 9:32; Lk 2:50; 9:45; 18:34; Jn 2:24; 12:16 what he was telling them.
7Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am#Ex 3:14; Ps 45:8; Jn 8:24 the gate for the sheep.#Mt 7:15 8All who came before me#10:8 Other mss omit before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. 9I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10A thief comes only to steal#Eph 4:28 and kill and destroy.#Jn 6:27 I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.
11 “I am the good shepherd. #
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 7:17 The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.#Mt 20:28; Mk 10:45; 2Co 5:21; Gl 3:13; 1Jn 3:16 12The hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, leaves them#10:12 Lit leaves the sheep and runs away when he sees a wolf#Lk 10:3 coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them. 13This 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, 15just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father.#Mt 11:27; Lk 10:22 I lay down my life#Mt 20:28 for the sheep. 16But I have other sheep#Is 56:8; Ezk 34:11–13; Mt 8:11,12; Jn 12:32; Ac 10:34–35; 1Pt 2:25 that 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.#Ezk 34:23; 37:24; Jn 11:52; 17:11,20–22; Eph 2:11–19 17This is why the Father loves me,#Jn 3:35; 5:20 because I lay down my life#1Jn 3:16 so that I may take it up again. 18No 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.”#Jn 5:19
19Again the Jews were divided#Jn 7:43; 9:16 because of these words. 20Many of them were saying, “He has a demon#Jn 7:20; 8:48; Rv 9:20; 18:2 and he’s crazy. Why do you listen to him?” 21Others were saying, “These aren’t the words of someone who is demon-possessed. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” #Ex 4:11; Ps 146:8; Jn 9:32–33
Jesus at the Festival of Dedication
22Then the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem, and it was winter. 23Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon’s Colonnade.#Ac 3:11; 5:12 24The 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,#Mt 1:17; Eph 5:2 tell us plainly.”#10:24 Or openly, or publicly#Mt 26:63; Lk 22:67; 2Co 3:12
25 “I did tell you and you don’t believe,” Jesus answered them. “The works#Jn 5:36; 6:28–29; Rm 14:20; Heb 3:9; 2Jn 8; Rv 15:3 that I do in my Father’s name testify about me. 26But you don’t believe because you are not of my sheep.#10:26 Other mss add just as I told you#Jn 6:37; 8:47 27My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life,#Jn 12:25; Ac 13:48; 1Jn 2:25 and they will never perish.#Mt 10:42; Mk 9:41; Lk 21:18; Jn 3:16; 6:27,39; 17:12; 18:9; 2Co 4:9; 2Jn 8 No one will snatch#1Th 4:17 them out of my hand. 29My Father,#Mt 11:27 who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30I and the Father are one.”#Jn 1:15; 14:10; 17:11; 1Jn 2:24
Renewed Efforts to Stone Jesus
31Again the Jews picked up rocks to stone him.#Jn 11:8
32Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works#Jn 5:36; 15:24 from the Father. For which of these works are you stoning me?”
33“We aren’t stoning#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.”
34Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law,#10:34 Other mss read in the scripture I said, you are gods?#10:34Ps 82:6#Ps 82:6 35If he called those to whom the word#Lk 8:21; Jn 2:22; 18:32 of God came ‘gods’ — and the Scripture#Mt 26:54 cannot be broken — 36do 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?#Jn 5:19; Heb 1:2 37If I am not doing my Father’s works,#Jn 5:36; 15:24; Heb 3:9; Rv 15:3 don’t believe me. 38But 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 believe that the Father is in me and I in the Father.”#Jn 14:10; 1Jn 5:20 39Then they were trying again to seize him,#Jn 7:44 but he escaped their grasp.#Lk 4:30
Many beyond the Jordan Believe in Jesus
40So he departed again across the Jordan#Mk 10:1; Lk 3:3 to the place where John#Mk 1:4 had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. 41Many came to him#Mk 1:45 and said, “John never did a sign, but everything John said about this man was true.” 42And many believed in him there.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers