A Story about Sheep

10 Jesus said:

I tell you for certain only thieves and robbers climb over the fence instead of going in through the gate to the sheep pen. ^2-3 But the gatekeeper opens the gate for the shepherd, and he goes in through it. The sheep know their shepherd's voice. He calls each of them by name and leads them out.

⁴ When he has led out all of his sheep, he walks in front of them, and they follow, because they know his voice. ⁵ The sheep will not follow strangers. They don't recognize a stranger's voice, and they run away.

⁶ Jesus told the people this story. But they did not understand what he was talking about.

Jesus Is the Good Shepherd

⁷ Jesus said:

I tell you for certain that I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ Everyone who came before me was a thief or a robber, and the sheep did not listen to any of them. ⁹ I am the gate. All who come in through me will be saved. Through me they will come and go and find pasture.

¹⁰ A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so everyone would have life, and have it fully. ^11 (A) I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd gives up his life for his sheep. ¹² Hired workers are not like the shepherd. They don't own the sheep, and when they see a wolf coming, they run off and leave the sheep. Then the wolf attacks and scatters the flock. ¹³ Hired workers run away because they don't care about the sheep.

^14 (B) I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and they know me. ^15 (C) Just as the Father knows me, I know the Father, and I give up my life for my sheep. ¹⁶ I have other sheep that are not in this sheep pen. I must also bring them together, when they hear my voice. Then there will be one flock of sheep and one shepherd.

¹⁷ The Father loves me, because I give up my life, so I may receive it back again. ¹⁸ No one takes my life from me. I give it up willingly! I have the power to give it up and the power to receive it back again, just as my Father commanded me to do.

¹⁹ The people took sides because of what Jesus had told them. ²⁰ Many of them said, “He has a demon in him! He is crazy! Why listen to him?”

²¹ But others said, “How could anyone with a demon in him say these things? No one like this could give sight to a blind person!”

Other Things Solomon Did

(1 Kings 9.10-28)

8 It took 20 years for the Lord's temple and Solomon's palace to be built. ² After that, Solomon had his workers rebuild the towns that Hiram had given him. Then Solomon sent Israelites to live in those towns.

³ Solomon attacked and captured the town of Hamath-Zobah. ⁴ He ordered his workers to build the town of Tadmor in the desert and some towns in Hamath where he could keep his supplies. ⁵ He strengthened Upper Beth-Horon and Lower Beth-Horon by adding walls and gates that could be locked. ⁶ He did the same thing to the town of Baalath and to the cities where he kept supplies, chariots, and horses. Solomon ordered his workers to build whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and anywhere else in his kingdom.

^7-9 Solomon did not force the Israelites to do his work. Instead, they were his soldiers, officers, army commanders, and cavalry troops. But he did make slaves of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites who were living in Israel. These were the descendants of those foreigners the Israelites did not destroy, and they remained Israel's slaves.

¹⁰ Solomon appointed 250 officers to be in charge of his workers.

¹¹ Solomon's wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt, moved from the part of Jerusalem called David's City to her new palace that Solomon had built. The sacred chest had been kept in David's City, which made his palace sacred, and so Solomon's wife could no longer live there.

¹² Solomon offered sacrifices to the Lord on the altar he had built in front of the temple porch. ^13 (A) He followed the requirements that Moses had given for sacrifices offered on the Sabbath, on the first day of each month, the Festival of Thin Bread, the Harvest Festival, and the Festival of Shelters.

¹⁴ Solomon then assigned the priests and the Levites their duties at the temple, and he followed the instructions that his father, the man of God, had given him. Some of the Levites were to lead music and help the priests in their duties, and others were to guard the temple gates ¹⁵ and the storage rooms. The priests and Levites followed these instructions exactly.

¹⁶ Everything Solomon had planned to do was now finished—from the laying of the temple's foundation to its completion.

¹⁷ Solomon went to Ezion-Geber and Eloth, two Edomite towns on the Red Sea.^{[a] 18} Hiram sent him ships and some of his experienced sailors. They went with Solomon's own sailors to the country of Ophir^[b] and brought back more than 15 tons of gold for Solomon.

BOOK III

(Psalms 73–89)

(A psalm by Asaph.)

God Is Good