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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For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

John Chapter 10 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Morphological Greek New Testament Textus Receptus Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras

John 10 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

NLT Footnotes

John Chapter 10 — Additional Translations:

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