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"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.
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But the one who goes in through the gate is the
sheep's own shepherd.
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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.
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After taking out all that are his own, he goes on
ahead of them; and the sheep follow him because they recognize his
voice.
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They never follow a stranger but will run away from
him, because strangers' voices are unfamiliar to them."
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Yeshua used this indirect manner of speaking with them, but they didn't
understand what he was talking to them about.
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So Yeshua said to them again, "Yes, indeed! I
tell you that I am the gate for the sheep.
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All those who have come before me have been thieves
and robbers, but the sheep didn't listen to them.
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I am the gate; if someone enters through me, he will be safe and will go
in and out and find pasture.
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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.
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"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays
down his life for the sheep.
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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.
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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.
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I am the good shepherd; I know my own, and my own know me --
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just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father
-- and I lay down my life on behalf of the sheep.
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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.
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"This is why the Father loves me: because I lay
down my life -- in order to take it up again!
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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." |
