¹² Moreover, you led them by day with a pillar of cloud and by night with a pillar of fire, to give them light on the way in which they should go.^(A)

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.^{(A) 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.^{(B) 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.^{(C) 17} For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes^[a] it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

¹⁹ Again the Jews were divided because of these words.^{(D) 20} Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is out of his mind. Why listen to him?”^{(E) 21} Others were saying, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”^(F)

Jesus Is Rejected by the Jews

²² At that time the Festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³ and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon.^{(G) 24} So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah,^[b] tell us plainly.” ²⁵ Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me,^{(H) 26} but you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep.^{(I) 27} My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.^{(J) 28} I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.^{(K) 29} My Father, in regard to what he has given me, is greater than all,^[c] and no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand.^{(L) 30} The Father and I are one.”

³¹ The Jews took up stones again to stone him. ³² Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?” ³³ The Jews answered, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human, are making yourself God.”^{(M) 34} Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law,^[d] ‘I said, you are gods’?^{(N) 35} If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’—and the scripture cannot be annulled— ³⁶ can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?^{(O) 37} If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me.^{(P) 38} But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand^[e] that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”^{(Q) 39} Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands.^(R)

⁴⁰ He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. ⁴¹ Many came to him, and they were saying, “John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.”^{(S) 42} And many believed in him there.^(T)

⁴ “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? ⁵ And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.’