LUKE Chapter 15 (GNB)

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15:1   One day when many tax collectors and other outcasts came to listen to Jesus,

15:2   the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law started grumbling, "This man welcomes outcasts and even eats with them!"

15:3   So Jesus told them this parable:

15:4   "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them---what do you do? You leave the other ninety-nine sheep in the pasture and go looking for the one that got lost until you find it.

15:5   When you find it, you are so happy that you put it on your shoulders

15:6   and carry it back home. Then you call your friends and neighbors together and say to them, 'I am so happy I found my lost sheep. Let us celebrate!'

15:7   In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine respectable people who do not need to repent.

15:8   "Or suppose a woman who has ten silver coins loses one of them---what does she do? She lights a lamp, sweeps her house, and looks carefully everywhere until she finds it.

15:9   When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, and says to them, 'I am so happy I found the coin I lost. Let us celebrate!'

15:10   In the same way, I tell you, the angels of God rejoice over one sinner who repents."

15:11   Jesus went on to say, "There was once a man who had two sons.

15:12   The younger one said to him, 'Father, give me my share of the property now.' So the man divided his property between his two sons.

15:13   After a few days the younger son sold his part of the property and left home with the money. He went to a country far away, where he wasted his money in reckless living.

15:14   He spent everything he had. Then a severe famine spread over that country, and he was left without a thing.

15:15   So he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him out to his farm to take care of the pigs.

15:16   He wished he could fill himself with the bean pods the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything to eat.

15:17   At last he came to his senses and said, 'All my father's hired workers have more than they can eat, and here I am about to starve!

15:18   I will get up and go to my father and say, "Father, I have sinned against God and against you.

15:19   I am no longer fit to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired workers." '

15:20   So he got up and started back to his father. "He was still a long way from home when his father saw him; his heart was filled with pity, and he ran, threw his arms around his son, and kissed him.

15:21   'Father,' the son said, 'I have sinned against God and against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son.'

15:22   But the father called to his servants. 'Hurry!' he said. 'Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet.

15:23   Then go and get the prize calf and kill it, and let us celebrate with a feast!

15:24   For this son of mine was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.' And so the feasting began.

15:25   "In the meantime the older son was out in the field. On his way back, when he came close to the house, he heard the music and dancing.

15:26   So he called one of the servants and asked him, 'What's going on?'

15:27   'Your brother has come back home,' the servant answered, 'and your father has killed the prize calf, because he got him back safe and sound.'

15:28   The older brother was so angry that he would not go into the house; so his father came out and begged him to come in.

15:29   But he spoke back to his father, 'Look, all these years I have worked for you like a slave, and I have never disobeyed your orders. What have you given me? Not even a goat for me to have a feast with my friends!

15:30   But this son of yours wasted all your property on prostitutes, and when he comes back home, you kill the prize calf for him!'

15:31   'My son,' the father answered, 'you are always here with me, and everything I have is yours.

15:32   But we had to celebrate and be happy, because your brother was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.' "

CHAPTER ENDS