12. Hired workers are not like the shepherd. They don't own the sheep, and when they see a wolf coming, they run off and leave the sheep. Then the wolf attacks and scatters the flock.
13. Hired workers run away because they don't care about the sheep.
14. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and they know me.
15. Just as the Father knows me, I know the Father, and I give up my life for my sheep.
16. I have other sheep that are not in this sheep pen. I must bring them together too, when they hear my voice. Then there will be one flock of sheep and one shepherd.
17. The Father loves me, because I give up my life, so that I may receive it back again.
18. No one takes my life from me. I give it up willingly! I have the power to give it up and the power to receive it back again, just as my Father commanded me to do.
19. The people took sides because of what Jesus had told them.
20. Many of them said, “He has a demon in him! He is mad! Why listen to him?”
21. But others said, “How could anyone with a demon in him say these things? No one like that could give sight to a blind person!”
22. That winter, Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Temple Festival.
23. One day he was walking in that part of the temple known as Solomon's Porch,
24. and the people gathered all around him. They said, “How long are you going to keep us guessing? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly!”