Yahukanun (John) — 10
The Good Shepherd and His Sheep
1 “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 will not follow a stranger; they will run from stranger because they do not know strangers voice.”
6 Those who heard 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏_YAHUSHA use this illustration did not understand what he meant,
7 so 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏_YAHUSHA 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 do not belong to him and he is not their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock.
13 The hired hand runs away because he is working only for the money and does not really care about the sheep.
14 “I Am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and my sheep know me,
15 just as my ABBA knows me and I know My ABBA. 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 “ABBA 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH Ahaba (love) 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 ABBA has commanded.”
19 When 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏_YAHUSHA said these things, the people were again divided in their opinions about Him.
20 Some said, “He is demon possessed and out of His mind. Why listen to a man like that?”
21 Others said, “This does not sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
22 It was now winter, and 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏_YAHUSHA was in Yahushalam at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication.
23 For 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏_YAHUSHA was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Shalumah’s Colonnade.
24 The people surrounded
𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏_YAHUSHA and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are Ha'Mashyach, tell us plainly.”
25 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏_YAHUSHA replied, “I have already told you, and you do not believe me. The proof is the work I do in the Name of My ABBA.
26 But you do not believe me because you are not my sheep.
27 My sheep know and 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 ABBA who has given them to me, He is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from ABBA 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH’s hand.
30 ABBA 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH and I are one.”
31 Once again the people picked up stones to kill 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏_YAHUSHA.
32 But 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏_YAHUSHA said, “At my ABBA’s direction I have done many good works. For which one are you going to stone me?”
33 They replied, “We are stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, but claim to be 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH.”
34 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏_YAHUSHA replied, “It is written in your own Scriptures that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH said to certain leaders of the people, ‘I say, you are Aluahym (mighty ones)!’
35 And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered. So if those people who received 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH’s message were called ‘Aluahym,’
36 why do you call it blasphemy when I say, ‘I am the Son of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH?‘ After all, Abba 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH Qadash me (set Me apart) and sent Me into the world.
37 If I do not do the works of My ABBA, do not believe Me;
38 But if I do 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH‘s work, then believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you do not believe me. Then you will know and understand that ABBA 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH is in me, and I Am in ABBA 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH.”
39 Once again they tried to arrest 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏_YAHUSHA, but He got away and left them.
40 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏_YAHUSHA went beyond the Yurdan River near the place where Yahukanun was first baptizing and stayed there awhile.
41 And many followed Him. “Yahukanun the Baptist did not 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 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏_YAHUSHA.