The New Testament

The New Testament › John

John 10

1“Truly, truly, I tell you: anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the door, but climbs in somewhere else, is a thief and a robber. 2But the one who enters through the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3The doorkeeper opens for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5They will never follow a stranger, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6Jesus told them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

7So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I tell you: I am the door for the sheep. 8All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy. I came so that they might have life, and have it abundantly.

11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired worker, who is not a shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and flees—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them—13because he is a hired worker and does not care about the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not from this fold. I must bring them too, and they will hear my voice, and they will become one flock, with one shepherd. 17This is why the Father loves me: because I lay down my life, so that I may take it up again. 18No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. I received this command from my Father.”

19There was another division among the Jews because of these words. 20Many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why listen to him?” 21Others said, “These are not the words of someone possessed by a demon. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can it?”

22Then came the Festival of Dedication in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon's Portico. 24The Jews surrounded him and said, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us openly.” 25Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father's name testify about me. 26But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. 27My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them from my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from the Father's hand. 30I and the Father are one.”

31The Jews again picked up stones to stone him. 32Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of them are you stoning me?” 33The Jews answered him, “We are not stoning you for a good work, but for blasphemy, because you, a human being, make yourself God.” 34Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? 35If he called those to whom God's word came ‘gods’—and the scripture cannot be broken—36do you say to the one the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am God's Son’? 37If I do not do my Father's works, do not believe me. 38But if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” 39Again they tried to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

40He went away again across the Jordan, to the place where John had first been baptizing, and stayed there. 41Many came to him and said, “John did no sign, but everything John said about this man was true.” 42And many believed in him there.

Translation notes 3

10:16, 22, 24 — Flock, festival, and suspense. One flock is not the same expression as one fold: the text changes from the enclosure to the gathered sheep. The Festival of Dedication is Hanukkah. “Keep us in suspense” renders an idiom literally involving lifting or taking away one's life/soul; a wooden rendering would obscure the question.

10:29 — The Father is greater. The reading adopts a Greek variant that makes the Father the subject of “is greater,” departing from SBLGNT. Another important reading is “What my Father has given me is greater than all,” treating the sheep as a collective gift. The evidence is difficult; the Father reading is preferred with modest confidence because of its early support and fit with the protection described in verses 28–30. “Them” is supplied in both clauses. The study notes identify the exact Greek choices and competing evidence.

10:30, 34–36 — One; gods; consecrated. “One” does not itself mean “one person”; neither does the draft reduce it to “one purpose.” “You are gods” follows the wording quoted from Psalm 82:6 without replacing “gods” with an interpretation such as “judges.” “Consecrated” means dedicated or set apart for God's service; the same verb recurs in 17:17–19.