Luke 15:1-14 ▼

1 And all the tax-gatherers and the sinners were coming near to him to hear him;

2 and the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, This [man] receives sinners and eats with them.

3 And he spoke to them this parable, saying,

4 What man of you having a hundred sheep, and having lost one of them, does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

5 and having found it, he lays it upon his own shoulders, rejoicing;

6 and being come to the house, calls together the friends and the neighbours, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.

7 I say unto you, that thus there shall be joy in heaven for one repenting sinner, [more] than for ninety and nine righteous who have no need of repentance.

8 Or, what woman having ten drachmas, if she lose one drachma, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek carefully till she find it?

9 and having found it she calls together the friends and neighbours, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.

10 Thus, I say unto you, there is joy before the angels of God for one repenting sinner.

11 And he said, A certain man had two sons;

12 and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give to me the share of the property that falls [to me]. And he divided to them what he was possessed of.

13 And after not many days the younger son gathering all together went away into a country a long way off, and there dissipated his property, living in debauchery.

14 But when he had spent all there arose a violent famine throughout that country, and he began to be in want.