John 10
Jesus as the Good Shepherd
1 Truly truly I say to you, the [one] not coming in through the gate into the sheep-pen but coming up from elsewhere, that [one] is [a] thief and [a] robber. 2 But the [one] coming in through the gate is [the] shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens [the gate] to this [one], and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls1 his own sheep by name, and he leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow [the voice belonging] to [a] stranger, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers. 6 Jesus told them this parable; but these [ones] did not know what it was that he was speaking to them.7 So Jesus said again, Truly truly I say to you that I am the gate of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers. But the sheep have not heard them. 9 I am the gate. If anyone enter through me, he will be saved, and he will come in and will go out and will find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except in order that he steal and slaughter2 and destroy3 ; I came in order that they have zoe-life4 and have [it] exceedingly.5
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd appoints his psyche-life6 in behalf of the sheep. 12 But the hired-hand also not being shepherd, of whom the sheep are not his own, he sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees—and the wolf seizes them and scatters [them]— 13 [he flees] because he is [a] hired-hand and the sheep are not [a] concern to him.
14 I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, 15 just as the father knows me, and I know the father, and I lay down my psyche-life6 in behalf of the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this sheep-pen, and I must lead [these], and they will hear my voice, and they will become one flock, one shepherd. 17 Because of this the father agape-loves me, because I lay down my psyche-life6, in order that I again receive it. 18 No one takes it from me, but I dedicate it myself. I have authority to dedicate it, and I have authority to again receive it; this commandment I received from my father.
19 [A] division again came to pass among the Jews because of these words. 20 And many among them were saying, He has [a] demon and is insane; why do you hear him? 21 Others were saying, These words are not [those] of [one] demon-possessed. Is [a] demon able to open [the] eyes of [the] blind7 ?
The Festival of Dedication
22 The Festival of Dedication then came to pass in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple in the porch of Solomon. 24 So the Jews encircled him and were saying to him, How long do you hold our psyche-lives6 [in suspense]? If you are the Christ, tell us openly. 25 Jesus answered them, I told you and you did not believe. The works that I do in the name of my father, these witness concerning me, 26 but you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, 28 and I give them zoe-life4 eternal, and they will not perish8 to eternity, and no one will seize them from my hand. 29 My father who has given [them]9 to me is greater than all, and no one is able to be seizing [them] from the hand of my father. 30 I and my father are one [thing].31 The Jews again took up stones in order that they stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, Many good works I showed you from my father; for what sort of work among them do you stone me? 33 The Jews answered him, Concerning [a] good work we do not stone you but concerning [God] slander, and because you being [a] man make yourself God.
34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law that10
I said, You are gods?35 If he called them "gods", to whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be loosed, 36 Do you say of him, whom the father made holy and sent into the world, that: You are slandering [God], because I said: I am [the] son of God? 37 If I am not doing the works of my father, be not believing in me. 38 But if I do [them], and if you are not believing in me, [then] be believing in the works, in order that you know and be knowing that the father [is] in me and I in the father. 39 So they were again seeking to arrest him, and he went out from their hand.
40 And he departed again to the other side of the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and he abided there. 41 And many came to him and were saying that John on the one hand made no sign, but on the other everything as much as John said concerning this [one] was true. 42 And many believed in him there.
1verb form of 'voice'
2THUO (θυω): `slaughter' or `sacrifice'. This word is used both for slaughtering livestock, and for temple sacrifices. It is not the usual word for `kill', which is APOKTEINO (απoκτεινω)
3APOLLUMI (απoλλυμι) To lose something that one previously possessed. Can also mean `ruin' or `destroy'—see Rev.9:11 where the angel of the Abyss is named `Apollyon' (same root word).
4from ZOE "ZOH-ay" (ζωη)—Life 'collectively', interdependent, interconnected. Although it means 'life' in the conventional sense (for example: Matt.9:18, Matt.27:63, Luke.2:36, Acts.25:24, Rom.7:2, 2Cor.1:8, 1Thes.4:17, 1Tim.5:10, Rev.19:20), Jesus uses ZOE exclusively of 'life eternal' (with the possible exceptions of Luke.15:13, Luke.16:25). The other N.T. writers use ZOE in both senses—temporal and eternal, generally clear from the context. The Father is the 'zoe-living God' (see Matt.16:16). The Septuagint (LXX) in Gen.2:7 has "...[God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of zoe-life, and the man became a zoe-living psyche-life" (and see 1Cor.15:45); and Gen.3:20 (LXX) "And Adam called his wife's name ZOE, because she was the mother of all zoe-living." Contrast PSYCHE (ψυχη): an individual manifestation of life/consciousness. See John.12:25 where both ZOE and PSYCHE occur. Greek also has the word BIOS (βιoς ) for 'life' in the sense of biological processes.
5Compare Luke.12:15
6from PSYCHE (ψυχη): an individual manifestation of life/consciousness. Animals have PSYCHEs as well as humans. Contrast ZOE (ζωη)—Life 'collectively', interdependent, interconnected.
7Grammar indicates "no" answer expected or expresses uncertainty
8or "be ruined"
9"My father who has given [them] p66,75K; "What my father has given" ℵB vg
10Ps.82:6