Everything Has Its Time

3 For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven:^(A)

The God-Given Task

⁹ What gain have the workers from their toil?^{(G) 10} I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with.^{(H) 11} He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.^{(I) 12} I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; ¹³ moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. ¹⁴ I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it; God has done this so that all should stand in awe before him.^{(J) 15} That which is already has been, that which is to be already is, and God seeks out what has gone by.^[a](K)

The New Heaven and the New Earth

21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.^{(A) 2} And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.^{(B) 3} And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

²² I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. ²³ And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.^{(A) 24} The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.^{(B) 25} Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.^(C)

³ Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him;^{(A) 4} they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.^{(B) 5} And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.^(C)

Jesus the Good Shepherd

10 “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. ² The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.^{(A) 3} The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” ⁶ Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

⁷ So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who came before me^[a] are thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹ I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.^(B)

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.^{(C) 12} The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.^{(D) 13} The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.^(E)