| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New Living Translation |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people--even eating with them! |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3So Jesus told them this story: |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4"If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.' |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven't strayed away! |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, 'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.' |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God's angels when even one sinner repents." |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: "A man had two sons. |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12The younger son told his father, 'I want my share of your estate now before you die.' So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13"A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17"When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, 'At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18I will go home to my father and say, "Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant."' |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20"So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21His son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.' |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22"But his father said to the servants, 'Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.' So the party began. |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25"Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26and he asked one of the servants what was going on. |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27'Your brother is back,' he was told, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.' |
| 28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 28"The older brother was angry and wouldn't go in. His father came out and begged him, |
| 29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 29but he replied, 'All these years I've slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. |
| 30[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 30Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!' |
| 31[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 31"His father said to him, 'Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. |
| 32[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 32We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!'" |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All Rights Reserved. |
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