¹Now all the tax collectors and the sinners would approach him to hear him, ²at which the Pharisees and scribes would mutter among themselves, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” ³So he spoke this parable to them and said, ⁴“What man among you who has one hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? ⁵Then when he has found it, he puts it on his shoulders, rejoicing, ⁶and he comes to his house and calls his friends and neighbours together and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷I say to you that there will be more joy like this in heaven at one sinner who repents, than at ninety-nine righteous, who have no need of repentance. ⁸Or what woman who has ten drachmas, if she loses one drachma, will not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹And when she has found it, she will call her friends and neighbours together and say, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the drachma which I had lost.’ ¹⁰In this way, I tell you, there is joy in the sight of the angels of God at one sinner who repents.” ¹¹Then he said, “A certain man had two sons, ¹²and the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of the property which falls to me.’ So he distributed his estate between them. ¹³Then not many days later the younger son gathered everything and moved to a distant country and squandered his substance there by living extravagantly. ¹⁴But when he had spent everything, a severe famine set in throughout that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵And he went and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to tend pigs. ¹⁶However, he would long to fill his belly with the carob-pods which the pigs ate, but no-one gave him any. ¹⁷Then he came to himself and said, ‘How many hired servants of my father have bread in abundance, whereas I am perishing from famine! ¹⁸I will get up and go to my father and say to him, «Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. ¹⁹And I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me one of your hired servants.» ’ ²⁰So he got up and went to his father. Now while he was still far off, his father saw him, and he was moved to compassion, and he ran and fell around his neck and kissed him. ²¹Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²²But his father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. ²³And bring the fatted calf and slaughter it, and let us eat it and rejoice, ²⁴because this son of mine was dead, but he has come back to life, and he was lost, but he has been found.’ So they began to rejoice. ²⁵But his elder son was in the field, and as he came back and approached the house, he heard music and dancing, ²⁶so he called one of the servants and inquired as to what this was. ²⁷And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come back, and your father has slaughtered the fatted calf, because he has got him back in good health.’ ²⁸But he became angry and refused to come in. So his father went out and tried to console him. ²⁹But he replied and said to his father, ‘Look, I have been serving you for all these years, and I have never disobeyed any commandment of yours, but you have never given me a kid for me to enjoy with my friends. ³⁰But when this son of yours came, who has dissipated your wealth with harlots, you slaughtered the fatted calf for him.’ ³¹At this he said to him, ‘My child, you are always with me, and everything of mine is yours. ³²But it was befitting to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead, but he has come back to life, and he was lost, but he has been found.’ ”