The Parable of the Lost Sheep

15 All^(A) the tax collectors^(B) and sinners were approaching to listen to him. ² And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners^(C) and eats with them.”

³ So he told them this parable:^{(D) 4} “What man among you, who has a hundred sheep and loses one of them,^(E) does not leave the ninety-nine in the open field^[a] and go after the lost one until he finds it? ⁵ When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, ⁶ and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ ⁷ I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven^(F) over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.

Jesus Visits Zacchaeus

19 He entered Jericho and was passing through. ² There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. ³ He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was not able because of the crowd, since he was a short man. ⁴ So running ahead, he climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus, since he was about to pass that way. ⁵ When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down because today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.”

⁶ So he quickly came down and welcomed him joyfully. ⁷ All who saw it began to complain,^(A) “He’s gone to stay with a sinful man.”

⁸ But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, I’ll give half of my possessions to the poor,^(B) Lord. And if I have extorted^(C) anything from anyone, I’ll pay back four times as much.”^(D)

⁹ “Today salvation^(E) has come to this house,” Jesus told him, “because he too is a son of Abraham.^{(F) 10} For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”^(G)

The Return of God’s People

¹⁸ Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am about to punish the king of Babylon^(C) and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria.

¹¹ “‘For this is what the Lord God says: See, I myself will search for my flock and look for them. ¹² As a shepherd looks for his sheep on the day he is among his scattered flock, so I will look for my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered^(A) on a day of clouds and total darkness. ¹³ I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them to their own soil. I will shepherd them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the land. ¹⁴ I will tend them in good pasture, and their grazing place will be on Israel’s lofty mountains. There they will lie down in a good grazing place; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I will tend my flock and let them lie down.^(B) This is the declaration of the Lord God. ¹⁶ I will seek the lost,^(C) bring back the strays, bandage the injured,^(D) and strengthen the weak, but I will destroy^[a] the fat and the strong. I will shepherd them with justice.

⁷ In him we have redemption^(A) through his blood, the forgiveness^(B) of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸ that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding.^[a]