Psalms 78:52

²⁰You led your people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

¹²Moreover, in a pillar of cloud you led them by day; and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way in which they should go.

¹¹Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying, “Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put his Holy Spirit among them?” ¹²Who caused his glorious arm to be at Moses’ right hand? Who divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name? ¹³Who led them through the depths, like a horse in the wilderness, so that they didn’t stumble? ¹⁴As the livestock that go down into the valley, the LORD’s Spirit caused them to rest. So you led your people to make yourself a glorious name.

¹¹“I am the good shepherd.The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹²He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them. ¹³The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care for the sheep. ¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own; ¹⁵even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶I have other sheep which are not of this fold.I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd. ¹⁷Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. ¹⁸No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father.”

¹⁹Therefore a division arose again among the Jews because of these words. ²⁰Many of them said, “He has a demon and is insane! Why do you listen to him?” ²¹Others said, “These are not the sayings of one possessed by a demon. It isn’t possible for a demon to open the eyes of the blind, is it?”

²²It was the Feast of the Dedication^[+] at Jerusalem. ²³It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. ²⁴The Jews therefore came around him and said to him, “How long will you hold us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

²⁵Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you don’t believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, these testify about me. ²⁶But you don’t believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you. ²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰I and the Father are one.”

³¹Therefore the Jews took up stones again to stone him. ³²Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”

³³The Jews answered him, “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”

³⁴Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’?³⁵If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken), ³⁶do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? ³⁷If I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me. ³⁸But if I do them, though you don’t believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

³⁹They sought again to seize him, and he went out of their hand. ⁴⁰He went away again beyond the Jordan into the place where John was baptizing at first, and he stayed there. ⁴¹Many came to him. They said, “John indeed did no sign, but everything that John said about this man is true.” ⁴²Many believed in him there.

⁷for he is our God. We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep in his care. Today, oh that you would hear his voice!

³⁷He brought them out with silver and gold. There was not one feeble person among his tribes.

³Know that the LORD, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

⁴“Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? ⁵When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’

¹¹He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.

²Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, says against the shepherds who feed my people: “You have scattered my flock, driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings,” says the LORD. ³“I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they will be fruitful and multiply. ⁴I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. They will no longer be afraid or dismayed, neither will any be lacking,” says the LORD.