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10:1  "I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber!
10:2  But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
10:3  The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
10:4  After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.
10:5  They won't follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don't know his voice."
10:6  Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn't understand what he meant,
10:7  so he explained it to them: "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.
10:8  All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them.
10:9  Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.
10:10  The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
10:11  "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.
10:12  A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don't belong to him and he isn't their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock.
10:13  The hired hand runs away because he's working only for the money and doesn't really care about the sheep.
10:14  "I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me,
10:15  just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.
10:16  I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.
10:17  "The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again.
10:18  No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded."
10:19  When he said these things, the people were again divided in their opinions about him.
10:20  Some said, "He's demon possessed and out of his mind. Why listen to a man like that?"
10:21  Others said, "This doesn't sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"
10:22  It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication.
10:23  He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon's Colonnade.
10:24  The people surrounded him and asked, "How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."
10:25  Jesus replied, "I have already told you, and you don't believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father's name.
10:26  But you don't believe me because you are not my sheep.
10:27  My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
10:28  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me,
10:29  for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father's hand.
10:30  The Father and I are one."
10:31  Once again the people picked up stones to kill him.
10:32  Jesus said, "At my Father's direction I have done many good works. For which one are you going to stone me?"
10:33  They replied, "We're stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God."
10:34  Jesus replied, "It is written in your own Scriptures that God said to certain leaders of the people, 'I say, you are gods!'
10:35  And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered. So if those people who received God's message were called 'gods,'
10:36  why do you call it blasphemy when I say, 'I am the Son of God'? After all, the Father set me apart and sent me into the world.
10:37  Don't believe me unless I carry out my Father's work.
10:38  But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don't believe me. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father."
10:39  Once again they tried to arrest him, but he got away and left them.
10:40  He went beyond the Jordan River near the place where John was first baptizing and stayed there awhile.
10:41  And many followed him. "John didn't perform miraculous signs," they remarked to one another, "but everything he said about this man has come true."
10:42  And many who were there believed in Jesus.