The Parable of the Lost Son

¹¹ Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons.^{(A) 12} The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’^(B) So he divided his property^(C) between them.

¹³ “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth^(D) in wild living.

¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned^(A) against heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ ²⁰ So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.^(B)

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah^(A) a second time: ² “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

³ Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. ⁴ Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming,^(B) “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” ⁵ The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.^(C)

⁶ When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.^{(D) 7} This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:

¹⁰ When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented^(N) and did not bring on them the destruction^(O) he had threatened.^(P)

⁹ But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”^(A)

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

¹⁰ But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. ¹¹ And should I not have concern^(B) for the great city of Nineveh,^(C) in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”

God’s Love and Ours

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another,^(A) for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God^(B) and knows God.^{(C) 8} Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.^{(D) 9} This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son^(E) into the world that we might live through him.^{(F) 10} This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us^(G) and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.^(H)