Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
John 10
The Shepherd and the Sheep
“Truly, truly, I tell you, the one who does not enter the sheepfold through the door but climbs in another way is a thief and a robber. The one who enters through the door is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will certainly not follow a stranger but will run away because they do not know strangers’ voices.” Jesus spoke this figure of speech to them, but they did not understand what he was saying.
I Am the Door
So Jesus said again, “Truly, truly, I tell you, I am the door for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters through me, they will be saved; they will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came so they may have life and have it abundantly.
I Am the Good Shepherd
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired worker, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and runs away. The wolf snatches them and scatters them. He runs away because he is a hired worker and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not from this fold. I must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice. There will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me: I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me. I lay it down from myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. I received this command from my Father.”
Division over Jesus
Again there was a division among the Jewish people because of these words. Many of them said, “He has a demon and is out of his mind. Why listen to him?” Others said, “These are not the words of someone demonized. Can a demon open the eyes of blind people?”
At the Festival of Dedication
At that time the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter. Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon’s colonnade. The Jewish leaders gathered around him and said, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I told you, and you do not trust. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me. But you do not trust because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will certainly never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
Stones and Scripture
The Jewish leaders picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these works are you going to stone me?” They answered, “We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy, because you, though human, make yourself God.” Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If Scripture called those to whom God’s word came ‘gods’—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? If I am not doing my Father’s works, do not trust me. But if I am doing them, even if you do not trust me, trust the works so that you may know and continue to know that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped from their hands. Jesus went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and he remained there. Many came to him and said, “John performed no sign, but everything John said about this man was true.” And many trusted in Jesus there.