good shepherd

 John 10

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.”