| Chapter 10 |
1 | 'Most assuredly, I tell you, he who doesn't enter by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
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2 | But he who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
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3 | The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.
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4 | Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
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5 | They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don't know the voice of strangers.'
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6 | Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they didn't understand what he was telling them.
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7 | Jesus therefore said to them again, 'Most assuredly, I tell you, I am the sheep's door.
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8 | All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn't listen to them.
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9 | I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture.
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10 | The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
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11 | I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
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12 | He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn't own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them.
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13 | The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn't care for the sheep.
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14 | I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I'm known by my own;
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15 | even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.
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16 | I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd.
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17 | Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.
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18 | No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father.'
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19 | Therefore a division arose again among the Jews because of these words.
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20 | Many of them said, 'He has a demon, and is mad! Why do you listen to him?'
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21 | Others said, 'These are not the sayings of one possessed with a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?'
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22 | It was the Feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem.
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23 | It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon's porch.
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24 | The Jews therefore came around him and said to him, 'How long will you hold us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.'
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25 | Jesus answered them, 'I told you, and you don't believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, these testify about me.
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26 | But you don't believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you.
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27 | My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
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28 | I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
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29 | My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand.
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30 | I and the Father are one.'
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31 | Therefore Jews took up stones again to stone him.
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32 | Jesus answered them, 'I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?'
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33 | The Jews answered him, 'We don't stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God.'
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34 | Jesus answered them, 'Isn't it written in your law, 'I said, you are gods?'
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35 | If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the scripture can't be broken),
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36 | Do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You blaspheme,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God?'
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37 | If I don't do the works of my Father, don't believe me.
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38 | But if I do them, though you don't believe me, believe the works; that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.'
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39 | They sought again to seize him, and he went forth out of their hand.
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40 | He went away again beyond the Jordan into the place where John was at the first baptizing, and there he stayed.
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41 | Many came to him. They said, 'John indeed did no sign, but everything whatever that John said about this man is true.'
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42 | Many believed in him there.
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