1 "Yes,
indeed! I tell you, the person who doesn't enter the sheep-pen
through the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a
robber.
2 But
the one who goes in through the gate is the sheep's own shepherd.
3 This
is the one the gate-keeper admits, and the sheep hear his voice. He
calls his own sheep, each one by name, and leads them out.
4 After
taking out all that are his own, he goes on ahead of them; and the
sheep follow him because they recognize his voice.
5 They
never follow a stranger but will run away from him, because
strangers' voices are unfamiliar to them."
6 Yeshua used this indirect
manner of speaking with them, but they didn't understand what he was
talking to them about.
7 So Yeshua said to them
again, "Yes, indeed! I tell you that I am
the gate for the sheep.
8 All
those who have come before me have been thieves and robbers, but the
sheep didn't listen to them.
9 I am
the gate; if someone enters through me, he will be safe and will go
in and out and find pasture.
10 The
thief comes only in order to steal, kill and destroy; I have come so
that they may have life, life in its fullest measure.
11 "I
am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the
sheep.
12 The
hired hand, since he isn't a shepherd and the sheep aren't his own,
sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the
wolf drags them off and scatters them.
13 The
hired worker behaves like this because that's all he is, a hired
worker; so it doesn't matter to him what happens to the sheep.
14 I am
the good shepherd; I know my own, and my own know me --
15 just
as the Father knows me, and I know the Father -- and I lay down my
life on behalf of the sheep.
16 Also
I have other sheep which are not from this pen; I need to bring
them, and they will hear my voice; and there will be one flock, one
shepherd.
17 "This
is why the Father loves me: because I lay down my life -- in order
to take it up again!
18 No
one takes it away from me; on the contrary, I lay it down of my own
free will. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to
take it up again. This is what my Father commanded me to do."
19 Again there was a split
among the Judeans because of what he said.
20 Many of them said,
"He has a demon!" and "He's meshugga! Why do you
listen to him?"
21 Others said, "These
are not the deeds of a man who is demonized -- how can a demon open
blind people's eyes?"
22 Then came Hanukkah in
Yerushalayim. It was winter,
23 and Yeshua was walking
around inside the Temple area, in Shlomo's Colonnade.
24 So the Judeans surrounded
him and said to him, "How much longer are you going to keep us
in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us publicly!"
25 Yeshua answered them, "I
have already told you, and you don't trust me. The works I do in my
Father's name testify on my behalf,
26 but
the reason you don't trust is that you are not included among my
sheep.
27 My
sheep listen to my voice, I recognize them, they follow me,
28 and
I give them eternal life. They will absolutely never be destroyed,
and no one will snatch them from my hands.
29 My
Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no one can
snatch them from the Father's hands.
30 I
and the Father are one."
31 Once again the Judeans
picked up rocks in order to stone him.
32 Yeshua answered them,
"You have seen me do many good deeds that
reflect the Father's power; for which one of these deeds are you
stoning me?"
33 The Judeans replied,
"We are not stoning you for any good deed, but for blasphemy --
because you, who are only a man, are making yourself out to be God
[Hebrew: Elohim]."
34 Yeshua answered them,
"Isn't it written in your Torah, `I have
said, "You people are Elohim' "?
35 If
he called `elohim' the people to whom the word of Elohim was
addressed (and the Tanakh cannot be broken),
36 then
are you telling the one whom the Father set apart as holy and sent
into the world, `You are committing blasphemy,' just because I said,
`I am a son of Elohim'?
37 "If
I am not doing deeds that reflect my Father's power, don't trust
me.
38 But
if I am, then, even if you don't trust me, trust the deeds; so that
you may understand once and for all that the Father is united with
me, and I am united with the Father."
39 One more time they tried
to arrest him, but he slipped out of their hands.
40 He went off again beyond
the Yarden, where Yochanan had been immersing at first, and stayed
there.
41 Many people came to him
and said, "Yochanan performed no miracles, but everything
Yochanan said about this man was true."
42 And many people there put
their trust in him.
