Luke 15:1-9 ▼

1 And all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to Him, to hear Him,

2 and the Pharisees and the scribes were murmuring, saying, “This One receives sinners, and eats with them.”

3 And He spoke to them this allegory, saying,

4 “What man of you having one hundred sheep, and having lost one out of them, does not leave behind the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go on after the lost one, until he may find it?

5 And having found, he lays [it] on his shoulders rejoicing,

6 and having come into the house, he calls together the friends and the neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, because I found my sheep—the lost one.

7 I say to you that [more] joy will be in Heaven over one sinner converting, rather than over ninety-nine righteous men who have no need of conversion.

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

9 And having found, she calls together the female friends and the neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I found the drachma that I lost.