John 10:1-30

1Jesus then said, ‘I tell you this: A shepherd keeps his sheep in a safe place with a wall round it. There is a gate into that safe place. Anyone who gets into that place by another way, not through the gate, is not the shepherd. That person is a robber. He comes to take away the sheep for himself.

2But the shepherd goes in through the gate.

3The person who watches the gate opens it for the shepherd. The sheep recognize the shepherd's voice. He calls each of his own sheep by their name and he leads them out.

4When he has brought out all his own sheep, he goes in front of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice.

5They will not follow a stranger. They will run away from a stranger because they do not recognize his voice.’

6Jesus told this story like a picture to teach the people. But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

7So Jesus spoke again. He said, ‘I tell you this: I am like the gate for the sheep.

8All other men who came before me were like robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them.

9I am like the gate. Everyone who comes in through me will be safe. They will be free to come in and to go out. And they will find plenty of food.

10The robber only wants to take away my sheep. He wants to kill them. He comes only to destroy them. But I have come so that they can have true life. And so that they can have everything that they need.

11I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd would die so that he can save his sheep.

12Another man may take care of sheep so that he gets money. But the sheep do not belong to him. A man like that is not the shepherd. If a wolf comes, a man like that runs away when he sees it. He leaves the sheep in danger. Then the wolf attacks the sheep. It causes them to run away in all directions.

13That man runs away because the sheep do not belong to him. He does not think that the sheep are important.

14I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep, and they know me.

15I know them in the same way that my Father knows me. And they know me in the same way that I know the Father. I will die so that I can save my sheep.

16I also have other sheep, and I must bring them too. They do not belong to this group of sheep. But they also will listen to my voice. So all the sheep will become one group, and they will have one shepherd.

17The Father loves me because I choose to die for my sheep. But after I give my life like that, I will become alive again.

18Nobody can take my life away from me. Instead, I myself can choose to die. I have authority to do that. I also have authority to become alive again. My Father has said that I must do that.’

19Again, the Jews could not agree about these things that Jesus said.

20Many of them said, ‘He has a demon in him and he is crazy. You should not listen to him!’

21But other people said, ‘A man with a demon in him could not teach like this! A demon could not make blind people able to see!’

22It was the time for the Jewish Festival called Hanukkah. This happened in Jerusalem. It was winter.

23Jesus was walking in the yard of the temple, under a place with a roof. The place was called Solomon's porch.

24The Jewish leaders stood around him. They said to him, ‘We want to know who you are. When will you tell us? If you are the Messiah, tell us clearly.’

25Jesus answered, ‘I have already told you, but you do not believe. The things that I do by my Father's authority show you who I am.

26But you refuse to believe, because you are not my sheep.

27My sheep recognize my voice. I know them and they follow me.

28I give them life for ever with God. They will never die. Nobody can ever take them away from me.

29My Father has given them to me. He is greater than all things. Nobody can ever take my sheep out of my Father's hand.

30My Father and I are one.’