Chapter 15

¹All the tax-collectors and irreligious people were crowding up to hear him. ²And the Pharisees and scribes grumbled, and said,

“This man welcomes irreligious people, and even eats with them!”

³So in speaking to them he used this figure:

⁴“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep, and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go in search of the one that is lost, until he finds it? ⁵And when he finds it, he puts it on his shoulders with joy, ⁶and when he reaches home, he calls in his friends and neighbors, and says to them, ‘Congratulate me, for I have found my lost sheep!’ ⁷I tell you, in just that way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinful person who repents, than over ninety-nine upright people who do not need any repentance. ⁸Or what woman who has ten silver coins and loses one, does not light the lamp and sweep the house and look carefully until she finds it? ⁹And when she finds it, she calls in her friends and neighbors, and says to them, ‘Congratulate me, for I have found the coin that I lost!’ ¹⁰In just that way, I tell you, there is joy among the angels of God over one sinful person who repents!”

¹¹And he said,

“A man had two sons. ¹²The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the property.’ So he divided his property between them.

¹³Not many days later, the younger son gathered up all he had, and went away to a distant country, and there he squandered his property by fast living. ¹⁴After he had spent it all, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. ¹⁵And he went and hired himself out to a resident of the country, and he sent him into his fields to tend pigs. ¹⁶And he was ready to fill himself with the pods the pigs were eating, and no one would give him anything. ¹⁷When he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired men my father has, who have more than enough to eat, and here I am, dying of hunger! ¹⁸I will get up, and go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your eyes; ¹⁹I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired men!” ’ ²⁰And he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and pitied him, and ran and fell on his neck, and kissed him. ²¹His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your eyes; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired men!’ ²²But his father said to his slaves, ‘Make haste and get out the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; ²³and get the calf we are fattening, and kill it, and let us feast and celebrate, ²⁴for my son here was dead, and he has come to life; he was lost, and he is found!’ So they began to celebrate. ²⁵But his elder son was in the field. When he came in and approached the house, he heard music and dancing, ²⁶and he called one of the servants to him and asked him what it meant. ²⁷He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the calf he has been fattening, because he has gotten him back alive and well.’ ²⁸But he was angry and would not go into the house. And his father came out and urged him. ²⁹And he said to his father, ‘Here I have served you all these years, and have never disobeyed an order of yours, and you have never given me a kid, so that I could entertain my friends. ³⁰But when your son here came, who has eaten up your property with women of the street, for him you killed the calf you have been fattening!’ ³¹But he said to him, ‘My child, you have been with me all the time, and everything I have is yours. ³²But we had to celebrate and be glad, because your brother was dead, and has come to life, and was lost and is found!’ ”