Chapter 15

   Now the tax-gatherers and the notorious sinners were everywhere in the habit of coming close to Him to listen to Him;  

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   and this led the Pharisees and the Scribes indignantly to complain, saying, 'He gives a welcome to notorious sinners, and joins them at their meals!'  

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   So in figurative language He asked them,  

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   'Which of you men, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in their pasture and go in search of the lost one till he finds it?  

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   And when he has found it, he lifts it on his shoulder, glad at heart.  

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   Then coming home he calls his friends and neighbours together, and says, 'Congratulate me, for I have found my sheep--the one I had lost.'  

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   I tell you that in the same way there will be rejoicing in Heaven over one repentant sinner--more rejoicing than over ninety-nine blameless persons who have no need of repentance.  

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   'Or what woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully till she finds it?  

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   And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, and says, ''Congratulate me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.'  

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   'I tell you that in the same way there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one repentant sinner.'  

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   He went on to say, 'There was a man who had two sons.  

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   The younger of them said to his father, ''Father, give me the share of the property that comes to me.' 'So he divided his wealth between them.  

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   No long time afterwards the younger son got all together and travelled to a distant country, where he wasted his money in debauchery and excess.  

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   At last, when he had spent everything, there came a terrible famine throughout that country, and he began to feel the pinch of want.  

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   So he went and hired himself to one of the inhabitants of that country, who sent him on to his farm to tend swine;  

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   and he longed to make a hearty meal of the pods the swine were eating, but no one gave him any.  

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   'But on coming to himself he said, ''How many of my father's hired men have more bread than they want, while I here am dying of hunger!  

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   I will rise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you:  

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   I no longer deserve to be called a son of yours: treat me as one of your hired men.'  

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   'So he rose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and pitied him, and ran and threw his arms round his neck and kissed him tenderly.  

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   ''Father,' cried the son, 'I have sinned against Heaven and before you: no longer do I deserve to be called a son of yours.'  

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   'But the father said to his servants, ''Fetch a good coat quickly--the best one--and put it on him; and bring a ring for his finger and shoes for his feet.  

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   Fetch the fat calf and kill it, and let us feast and enjoy ourselves;  

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   for my son here was dead and has come to life again: he was lost and has been found.' 'And they began to be merry.  

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   'Now his elder son was out on the farm; and when he returned and came near home, he heard music and dancing.  

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   Then he called one of the lads to him and asked what all this meant.  

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   ''Your brother has come,' he replied; 'and your father has had the fat calf killed, because he has got him home safe and sound.'  

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   'Then he was angry and would not go in. But his father came out and entreated him.  

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   ''All these years,' replied the son, 'I have been slaving for you, and I have never at any time disobeyed any of your orders, and yet you have never given me so much as a kid, for me to enjoy myself with my friends;  

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   but now that this son of yours is come who has eaten up your property among his bad women, you have killed the fat calf for him.'  

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   ''You my dear son,' said the father, 'are always with me, and all that is mine is also yours.  

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   We are bound to make merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has come back to life, he was lost and has been found.''  

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