1“Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who does not enter by the gate into the sheepfold but climbs in by another way, that person is a thief and a robber.
2But the one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
3To him the gatekeeper opens, 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 certainly not follow a stranger, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
6Jesus spoke this figure of speech to them, but they did not understand what he was telling them.
7So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep.
8All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
9I am the gate. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and find pasture.
10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
11I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
12The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees—and the wolf snatches and scatters them.
13He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for 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.
16And I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
17For this reason the Father loves me: because I lay down my life, so that I may take it up again.
18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
19Because of these words, a division again occurred among the Jews.
20Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why listen to him?”
21Others said, “These are not the words of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
22Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter,
23and Jesus was walking in the temple courts, in what was known as Solomon’s Portico.
24The Jews then gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
25Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but 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 my sheep.
27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.
29What my Father has given me is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
30I and the Father are one.”
31The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
32Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these works are you stoning me?”
33The Jews answered him, “We are not stoning you for a good work, but for blasphemy, and because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
34Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, “You are gods”’?”
35If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken—
36do you say of the one whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
37If I do not do the works of my Father, 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.”
39Therefore they tried again to seize him, but he escaped from their hand.
40And he went away again across the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and he stayed there.
41And many came to him and were saying, “John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.”
42And many believed in him there.
Open in the interactive reader →Where this passage connects across Scripture — each link typed and reasoned, part of the AIT Bible Nexus Chart.