John 10:24-42
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense?[a] If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”(A) 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you[b] and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me.(B) 26 But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep.(C) 27 My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand.(D) 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,[c] and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.(E) 30 [d]The Father and I are one.”(F)
31 The Jews again picked up rocks to stone him.(G) 32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?” 33 The Jews answered him, “We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy. You, a man, are making yourself God.”(H) 34 [e]Jesus answered them,(I) “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”’? 35 If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came, and scripture cannot be set aside, 36 can you say that the one whom the Father has consecrated[f] and sent into the world blasphemes because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?(J) 37 If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me; 38 but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize [and understand] that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”(K) 39 [Then] they tried again to arrest him; but he escaped from their power.
40 He went back across the Jordan to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained.(L) 41 Many came to him and said, “John performed no sign,[g] but everything John said about this man was true.” 42 And many there began to believe in him.(M)
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 10:24 Keep us in suspense: literally, “How long will you take away our life?” Cf. Jn 11:48–50. If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly: cf. Lk 22:67. This is the climax of Jesus’ encounters with the Jewish authorities. There has never yet been an open confession before them.
- 10:25 I told you: probably at Jn 8:25 which was an evasive answer.
- 10:29 The textual evidence for the first clause is very divided; it may also be translated: “As for the Father, what he has given me is greater than all,” or “My Father is greater than all, in what he has given me.”
- 10:30 This is justification for Jn 10:29; it asserts unity of power and reveals that the words and deeds of Jesus are the words and deeds of God.
- 10:34 This is a reference to the judges of Israel who, since they exercised the divine prerogative to judge (Dt 1:17), were called “gods”; cf. Ex 21:6, besides Ps 82:6, from which the quotation comes.
- 10:36 Consecrated: this may be a reference to the rededicated altar at the Hanukkah feast; see note on Jn 10:22.
- 10:41 Performed no sign: this is to stress the inferior role of John the Baptist. The Transjordan topography recalls the great witness of John the Baptist to Jesus, as opposed to the hostility of the authorities in Jerusalem.
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