7. So Yeshua said again, “Amen, amen I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.
8. All those who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
9. I am the gate! If anyone comes in through Me, he will be saved. He will come and go and find pasture.
10. The thief comes only to steal, slaughter, and destroy. I have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly!
11. “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
12. The hired worker is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. He sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and flees. Then the wolf snatches and scatters the sheep.
13. The man is only a hired hand and does not care about 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 are not from this fold; those also I must lead, and they will listen to My voice. So there shall be one flock, one Shepherd.
17. “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life, so that I may take it up again.
18. No one takes it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”
19. Again a division arose among the Judeans because of these words.
20. Many of them were saying, “He has a demon. He’s insane! Why listen to Him?”
21. Others said, “These are not the sayings of someone who is plagued by a demon. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can it?”
22. Then came Hanukkah; it was winter in Jerusalem.
23. Yeshua was walking in the Temple around Solomon’s Colonnade.
24. Then the Judean leaders surrounded Him, saying, “How long will You hold us in suspense? If You are the Messiah, tell us outright!”