¹⁶ When the scribes of^[a] the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat^[b] with tax collectors and sinners?”^(A)

¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

¹¹ The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

¹⁵ Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.

⁹ Then a great clamor arose, and certain scribes of the Pharisees’ group stood up and contended, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”^(A)

⁷ All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.”^(A)

³ Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners,^[a] so that you may not grow weary in your souls or lose heart.^(A)

² And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”^(A)

³ So he told them this parable: ⁴ “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? ⁵ And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.^(B)

⁷ “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”^(A)