²⁹ So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.

¹¹ The Pharisee ^(A)stood and prayed thus with himself, ^(B)‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’

¹⁷ Because you say, ^(A)‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—

¹⁷ “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden ^(A)manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone ^(B)a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” ’

⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we ^(A)confess our sins, He is ^(B)faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to ^(C)cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we ^(D)make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

⁴ though ^(A)I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I ^(B)more so: ⁵ circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, ^(C)of the tribe of Benjamin, ^(D)a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, ^(E)a Pharisee; ⁶ concerning zeal, ^(F)persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

³ For they being ignorant of ^(A)God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own ^(B)righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

⁹ I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

^21 (A)For I feared you, because you are ^[a]an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’

²⁰ You know the commandments: ^(A)‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ^(B)‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”

²¹ And he said, “All ^(C)these things I have kept from my youth.”