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JOHN 11
page 965
40 Some Pharisees who were standing nearby
heard him and asked, “Are you saying we’re
blind?”
41 “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,”
Jesus replied. “But you remain guilty because
you claim you can see.
The Good Shepherd and His Sheep
“I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks
over the wall of a sheepfold, rather
than going through the gate, must surely be
a thief and a robber! 2 But the one who enters
through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the
sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He
calls his own sheep by name and leads them
out. 4 After he has gathered his own flock, he
walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. 5 They won’t follow a
stranger; they will run from him because they
don’t know his voice.”
6 Those who heard Jesus use this illustration
didn’t understand what he meant, 7 so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the
gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me*
were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did
not listen to them. 9 Yes, I am the gate. Those
who come in through me will be saved.* They
will come and go freely and will find good pastures. 10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill
and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich
and satisfying life.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. 12 A hired
hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He
will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so
the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock.
13 The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care
about the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my own
sheep, and they know me, 15 just as my Father
knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice
my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep, too,
that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them
also. They will listen to my voice, and there will
be one flock with one shepherd.
17 “The Father loves me because I sacrifice my
life so I may take it back again. 18 No one can
take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily.
For I have the authority to lay it down when I
want to and also to take it up again. For this is
what my Father has commanded.”
19 When he said these things, the people*
were again divided in their opinions about him.
10
10:8 Some manuscripts do not include before me. 10:9 Or
will find safety. 10:19 Greek Jewish people; also in 10:24, 31.
10:29 Other manuscripts read for what my Father has given me
is more powerful than anything; still others read for regarding
that which my Father has given me, he is greater than all.
10:34a Greek your own law. 10:34b Ps 82:6. 11:2 This
incident is recorded in chapter 12.
20 Some said, “He’s demon possessed and out
of his mind. Why listen to a man like that?”
21 Others said, “This doesn’t sound like a man
possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the
eyes of the blind?”
Jesus Claims to Be the Son of God
22 It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem
at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication. 23 He was in the Temple, walking through
the section known as Solomon’s Colonnade.
24 The people surrounded him and asked, “How
long are you going to keep us in suspense? If
you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus replied, “I have already told you, and
you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do
in my Father’s name. 26 But you don’t believe me
because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen
to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never
perish. No one can snatch them away from me,
29 for my Father has given them to me, and he is
more powerful than anyone else.* No one can
snatch them from the Father’s hand. 30 The Father and I are one.”
31 Once again the people picked up stones to
kill him. 32 Jesus said, “At my Father’s direction I
have done many good works. For which one are
you going to stone me?”
33 They replied, “We’re stoning you not for
any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere
man, claim to be God.”
34 Jesus replied, “It is written in your own
Scriptures* that God said to certain leaders of
the people, ‘I say, you are gods!’* 35 And you
know that the Scriptures cannot be altered. So
if those people who received God’s message
were called ‘gods,’ 36 why do you call it blasphemy when I say, ‘I am the Son of God’? After
all, the Father set me apart and sent me into the
world. 37 Don’t believe me unless I carry out my
Father’s work. 38 But if I do his work, believe in
the evidence of the miraculous works I have
done, even if you don’t believe me. Then you
will know and understand that the Father is in
me, and I am in the Father.”
39 Once again they tried to arrest him, but he
got away and left them. 40 He went beyond the
Jordan River near the place where John was first
baptizing and stayed there awhile. 41 And many
followed him. “John didn’t perform miraculous
signs,” they remarked to one another, “but everything he said about this man has come true.”
42 And many who were there believed in Jesus.
The Raising of Lazarus
A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived
in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and
Martha. 2 This is the Mary who later poured the
expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped
them with her hair.* Her brother, Lazarus, was
11
