³² It was right that we should make merry and be glad, ^(A)for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ”

^24 (A)for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

By Grace Through Faith

2 And ^(A)you He made alive, ^(B)who were dead in trespasses and sins, ^2 (C)in which you once walked according to the ^[a]course of this world, according to ^(D)the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in ^(E)the sons of disobedience, ^3 (F)among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in ^(G)the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and ^(H)were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

⁴ But God, ^(I)who is rich in mercy, because of His ^(J)great love with which He loved us, ^5 (K)even when we were dead in trespasses, ^(L)made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up together, and made us sit together ^(M)in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in ^(N)His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ^8 (O)For by grace you have been saved ^(P)through faith, and that not of yourselves; ^(Q)it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of ^(R)works, lest anyone should ^(S)boast. ¹⁰ For we are ^(T)His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

¹⁰ But the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which ^[a]came up in a night and perished in a night. ¹¹ And should I not pity Nineveh, ^(A)that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons ^(B)who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”

^4 (A)Certainly not! Indeed, let ^(B)God be ^[a]true but ^(C)every man a liar. As it is written:

³⁴ The Son of Man has come ^(A)eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a ^[a]winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’