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Parable of the Lost Sheep

15 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

So Jesus told them this story: “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

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The Parable of the Lost Sheep

15 Now (A)the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes (B)grumbled, saying, (C)“This man receives sinners and (D)eats with them.”

So he told them this parable: (E)“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, (F)if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine (G)in the open country, and (H)go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, (I)he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for (J)I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who (K)repents than over ninety-nine (L)righteous persons who need no repentance.

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