¹⁶ When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees^(A) saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”^(B)

¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”^(A)

¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself^(A) and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.

¹⁵ The person with the Spirit^(A) makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,

⁹ There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees^(A) stood up and argued vigorously. “We find nothing wrong with this man,”^(B) they said. “What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”^(C)

⁷ All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”^(A)

³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary^(A) and lose heart.

² But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”^(A)

³ Then Jesus told them this parable:^{(B) 4} “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?^{(C) 5} And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’^{(D) 7} I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.^(E)