I Am the Good Shepherd
1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the fshepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep ghear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This hfigure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did inot understand what he was saying to them.
7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, jI am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will kbe saved and will lgo in and out and find mpasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and nkill and destroy. I came that they may ohave life and have it abundantly. 11 I am pthe good shepherd. The good shepherd qlays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a rshepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and sleaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and tcares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. uI know my own and my own know me, 15 just as vthe Father knows me and wI know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have xother sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and ythey will listen to my voice. So there will be zone flock, aone shepherd. 17 For this reason bthe Father loves me, because I lay down my life cthat I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This dcharge I have received from my Father.”
19 There was again a edivision among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them said, “He fhas a demon, and is ginsane; why listen to him?” 21 hOthers said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon iopen the eyes of the blind?”
I and the Father Are One
22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the jcolonnade of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? kIf you are the Christ, tell us lplainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name mbear witness about me, 26 but nyou do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep ohear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I pgive them eternal life, and they will never perish, and qno one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, rwho has given them to me,1 is sgreater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 tI and the Father are one.”
31 The Jews picked up stones uagain to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” 33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for vblasphemy, wbecause you, being a man, xmake yourself God.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, y‘I said, you are gods’? 35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—zand Scripture cannot be broken— 36 do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ abecause I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; 38 but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, bbelieve the works, that you may know and understand that cthe Father is in me and I am in the Father.” 39 Again they sought to darrest him, ebut he escaped from their hands.
40 He went away again across the Jordan to fthe place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. 41 And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but geverything that John said about this man was true.” 42 And hmany believed in him there.
Tell the Coming Generation
A oMaskil1 of Asaph.
1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2 pI will open my mouth in a qparable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3 things that we have heard and known,
that rour fathers have told us.
4 sWe will not hide them from their children,
but ttell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.
5 He established a utestimony in Jacob
vand appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
6 that the next generation might know them,
the children wyet unborn,
and arise and xtell them to their children,
7 so that they should set their hope in God
and not yforget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
8 and that they should not be zlike their fathers,
a astubborn and brebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9 The Ephraimites, armed with2 the bow,
turned back on the day of battle.
10 They did not ckeep God’s covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
11 They forgot his works
and the wonders that he had shown them.
12 dIn the sight of their fathers he performed wonders
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13 eHe divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters stand like a heap.
14 fIn the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
15 gHe split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16 He made streams come out of the rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
17 Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 They htested God in their heart
by demanding the food they icraved.
19 jThey spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
20 He struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?”
21 kTherefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath;
a fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,
22 because lthey did not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.
23 Yet he commanded the skies above
and mopened the doors of heaven,
24 and nhe rained down on them manna to eat
and ogave them the grain of heaven.
25 Man ate of the bread of the angels;
he sent them food in abundance.
26 pHe caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
27 he rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
28 he let them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29 And they ate and were well filled,
for qhe gave them what they craved.
30 rBut before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31 the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed the strongest of them
and laid low the young men of Israel.
32 sIn spite of all this, they still sinned;
tdespite his wonders, they did not believe.
33 So he made their days vanish like3 a breath,4
and their years in terror.
34 When he killed them, they sought him;
they repented and sought God earnestly.
35 They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God their uredeemer.
36 But they flattered him with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.
37 Their heart was not steadfast toward him;
they were not faithful to his covenant.
38 Yet he, being compassionate,
vatoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
and did not stir up all his wrath.
39 He wremembered that they were but xflesh,
a ywind that passes and comes not again.
40 How often they zrebelled against him in the wilderness
and grieved him in the desert!
41 They tested God again and again
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his power5
or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
43 awhen he performed his signs in Egypt
and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.
44 bHe turned their rivers to blood,
so that they could not drink of their streams.
45 cHe sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,
and dfrogs, which destroyed them.
46 eHe gave their crops to the destroying locust
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47 fHe destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamores with frost.
48 gHe gave over their cattle to the hail
and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49 He let loose on them his burning anger,
wrath, indignation, and distress,
a company of destroying angels.
50 He made a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death,
but gave their lives over to the plague.
51 hHe struck down every firstborn in Egypt,
ithe firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52 Then he led out his people like sheep
and jguided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid,
kbut the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 And he lbrought them to his holy land,
mto the mountain which his right hand had won.
55 He ndrove out nations before them;
ohe apportioned them for a possession
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56 Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God
and did not keep his testimonies,
57 but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;
they twisted plike a deceitful bow.
58 qFor they provoked him to anger with their high places;
they moved him to jealousy with their idols.
59 When God heard, he was full of wrath,
and he utterly rrejected Israel.
60 sHe forsook his dwelling at Shiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
61 and delivered his tpower to captivity,
uhis glory to the hand of the foe.
62 He gave his people over to the sword
and vented his wrath on his heritage.
63 Fire devoured their young men,
and their young women had no marriage song.
64 Their vpriests fell by the sword,
and their wwidows made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord xawoke as from sleep,
like a strong man shouting because of wine.
66 And he put his adversaries to rout;
he put them to everlasting shame.
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph;
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, ywhich he loves.
69 He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth, which he has founded forever.
70 He zchose David his servant
and took him afrom the sheepfolds;
71 from following the nursing ewes he brought him
to bshepherd Jacob his people,
Israel his inheritance.
72 cWith upright heart he shepherded them
and guided them with his skillful hand.
