15 The tax-collectors and sinners kept gathering around to hear Yeshua, ² and the P’rushim and Torah-teachers kept grumbling. “This fellow,” they said, “welcomes sinners — he even eats with them!” ³ So he told them this parable: ⁴ “If one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, doesn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? ⁵ When he does find it, he joyfully hoists it onto his shoulders; ⁶ and when he gets home, he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Come, celebrate with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who turns to God from his sins than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.

⁸ “Another example: what woman, if she has ten drachmas and loses one of these valuable coins, won’t light a lamp, sweep the house and search all over until she finds it? ⁹ And when she does find it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Come, celebrate with me, because I have found the drachma I lost.’ ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is joy among God’s angels when one sinner repents.”

¹¹ Again Yeshua said, “A man had two sons. ¹² The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that will be mine.’ So the father divided the property between them. ¹³ As soon as he could convert his share into cash, the younger son left home and went off to a distant country, where he squandered his money in reckless living. ¹⁴ But after he had spent it all, a severe famine arose throughout that country, and he began to feel the pinch.

¹⁵ “So he went and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He longed to fill his stomach with the carob pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him any.

¹⁷ “At last he came to his senses and said, ‘Any number of my father’s hired workers have food to spare; and here I am, starving to death! ¹⁸ I’m going to get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against Heaven and against you; ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired workers.” ’ ²⁰ So he got up and started back to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran and threw his arms around him and kissed him warmly. ²¹ His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son — ’ ²² but his father said to his slaves, ‘Quick, bring out a robe, the best one, and put it on him; and put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet; ²³ and bring the calf that has been fattened up, and kill it. Let’s eat and have a celebration! ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead, but now he’s alive again! He was lost, but now he has been found!’ And they began celebrating.

²⁵ “Now his older son was in the field. As he came close to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked, ‘What’s going on?’ ²⁷ The servant told him, ‘Your brother has come back, and your father has slaughtered the calf that was fattened up, because he has gotten him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸ But the older son became angry and refused to go inside.

“So his father came out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ ‘Look,’ the son answered, ‘I have worked for you all these years, and I have never disobeyed your orders. But you have never even given me a young goat, so that I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ Yet this son of yours comes, who squandered your property with prostitutes, and for him you slaughter the fattened calf!’ ³¹ ‘Son, you are always with me,’ said the father, ‘and everything I have is yours. ³² We had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead but has come back to life — he was lost but has been found.’”