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15:1  Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were drawing near to hear him.
15:2  And both the Pharisees and the scribes were complaining, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!”
15:3  So he told them this parable, saying,
15:4  “What man of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the grassland and go after the one that was lost until he finds it?
15:5  And when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
15:6  And when he returns to his home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost!’
15:7  I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.
15:8  Or what woman who has ten drachmas, if she loses one drachma, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
15:9  And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the drachma that I had lost!’
15:10  In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
15:11  And he said, “A certain man had two sons.
15:12  And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that is coming to me.’ So he divided his assets between them.
15:13  And after not many days, the younger son gathered everything and went on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered his wealth by living wastefully.
15:14  And after he had spent everything, there was a severe famine throughout that country, and he began to be in need.
15:15  And he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to tend pigs.
15:16  And he was longing to fill his stomach with the carob pods that the pigs were eating, and no one was giving anything to him.
15:17  “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have an abundance of food, and I am dying here from hunger!
15:18  I will set out and go to my father and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight!
15:19  I am no longer worthy to be called your son! Make me like one of your hired workers.’
15:20  And he set out and came to his own father. But while he was still a long way away, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
15:21  And his son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight! I am no longer worthy to be called your son!’
15:22  But his father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet!
15:23  And bring the fattened calf—kill it and let us eat and celebrate,
15:24  because this son of mine was dead, and is alive again! He was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.
15:25  “Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.
15:26  And he summoned one of the slaves and asked what these things meant.
15:27  And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has gotten him back healthy.’
15:28  But he became angry and did not want to go in. So his father came out and began to implore him.
15:29  But he answered and said to his father, ‘Behold, so many years I have served you, and have never disobeyed your command! And you never gave me a young goat so that I could celebrate with my friends!
15:30  But when this son of yours returned—who has consumed your assets with prostitutes—you killed the fattened calf for him!’
15:31  But he said to him, ‘Child, you are always with me, and everything I have belongs to you.
15:32  But it was necessary to celebrate and to rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead, and is alive, and was lost, and is found!’”