Luke 15:1-21 ▼

1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners kept coming to listen to Jesus.

2 But the Pharisees and the scribes kept complaining, |This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.|

3 So he told them this parable:

4 |Suppose one of you has 100 sheep and loses one of them. He leaves the 99 in the wilderness and looks for the one that is lost until he finds it, doesn't he?

5 When he finds it, he puts it on his shoulders and rejoices.

6 Then he goes home, calls his friends and neighbors together, and says to them, 'Rejoice with me, because I've found my lost sheep!'

7 In the same way, I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don't need to repent.|

8 |Or suppose a woman has ten coins and loses one of them. She lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches carefully until she finds it, doesn't she?

9 When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me, because I have found the coin that I lost!'

10 In the same way, I tell you that there is joy in the presence of God's angels over one sinner who repents.|

11 Then Jesus said, |A man had two sons.

12 The younger one told his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So the father divided his property between them.

13 A few days later, the younger son gathered everything he owned and traveled to a distant country. There he wasted it all on wild living.

14 After he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need.

15 So he went out to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

16 No one would give him anything, even though he would gladly have filled himself with the husks the pigs were eating.

17 |Then he came to his senses and said, 'How many of my father's hired men have more food than they can eat, and here I am starving to death!

18 I will get up, go to my father, and say to him, |Father, I have sinned against heaven and you.

19 I don't deserve to be called your son anymore. Treat me like one of your hired men.|'

20 |So he got up and went to his father. While he was still far away, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him affectionately.

21 Then his son told him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and you. I don't deserve to be called your son anymore.'