John 10 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

The Good Shepherd and His Sheep

Jhn 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!

Jhn 10:2

Jhn 10:2But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

Jhn 10:3

Jhn 10:3The 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.

Jhn 10:4

Jhn 10:4After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.

Jhn 10:5

Jhn 10:5They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”

Jhn 10:6

Jhn 10:6Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant,

Jhn 10:7

Jhn 10:7so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.

Jhn 10:8

Jhn 10:8All who came before me[fn] were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them.

Jhn 10:9

Jhn 10:9Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved.[fn] They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.

Jhn 10:10

Jhn 10:10The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

Jhn 10:11

Jhn 10:11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.

Jhn 10:12

Jhn 10:12A 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.

Jhn 10:13

Jhn 10:13The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep.

Jhn 10:14

Jhn 10:14“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me,

Jhn 10:15

Jhn 10:15just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.

Jhn 10:16

Jhn 10:16I 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.

Jhn 10:17

Jhn 10:17“The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again.

Jhn 10:18

Jhn 10:18No 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.”

Jhn 10:19

Jhn 10:19When he said these things, the people[fn] were again divided in their opinions about him.

Jhn 10:20

Jhn 10:20Some said, “He’s demon possessed and out of his mind. Why listen to a man like that?”

Jhn 10:21

Jhn 10:21Others said, “This doesn’t sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

Jesus Claims to Be the Son of God

Jhn 10:22

Jhn 10:22It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication.

Jhn 10:23

Jhn 10:23He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon’s Colonnade.

Jhn 10:24

Jhn 10:24The people surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

Jhn 10:25

Jhn 10:25Jesus replied, “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father’s name.

Jhn 10:26

Jhn 10:26But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep.

Jhn 10:27

Jhn 10:27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Jhn 10:28

Jhn 10:28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me,

Jhn 10:29

Jhn 10:29for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else.[fn] No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.

Jhn 10:30

Jhn 10:30The Father and I are one.”

Jhn 10:31

Jhn 10:31Once again the people picked up stones to kill him.

Jhn 10:32

Jhn 10:32Jesus said, “At my Father’s direction I have done many good works. For which one are you going to stone me?”

Jhn 10:33

Jhn 10:33They replied, “We’re stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God.”

Jhn 10:34

Jhn 10:34Jesus replied, “It is written in your own Scriptures[fn] that God said to certain leaders of the people, ‘I say, you are gods!’[fn]

Jhn 10:35

Jhn 10:35And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered. So if those people who received God’s message were called ‘gods,’

Jhn 10:36

Jhn 10:36why 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.

Jhn 10:37

Jhn 10:37Don’t believe me unless I carry out my Father’s work.

Jhn 10:38

Jhn 10:38But 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.”

Jhn 10:39

Jhn 10:39Once again they tried to arrest him, but he got away and left them.

Jhn 10:40

Jhn 10:40He went beyond the Jordan River near the place where John was first baptizing and stayed there awhile.

Jhn 10:41

Jhn 10:41And many followed him. “John didn’t perform miraculous signs,” they remarked to one another, “but everything he said about this man has come true.”

Jhn 10:42

Jhn 10:42And many who were there believed in Jesus.

See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NLT Footnotes

(10:8)

Some manuscripts do not include before me.

(10:9)

Or will find safety.

(10:19)

Greek Jewish people; also in 10:24, 31.

(10:29)

Other manuscripts read for what my Father has given me is more powerful than anything; still others read for regarding that which my Father has given me, he is greater than all.

(10:34)

Greek your own law.

(10:34)

Ps 82:6.

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