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| 15 | Luke |
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ANOTHER TIME, the tax-gatherers and other bad characters were all crowding in to listen to him; | The Parable of the Lost Sheep Lk.15.1-7 (Peraea) -[ Lk.15.1-7 → ] - Mt.18.12-14 |
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and the Pharisees and the doctors of the law began grumbling among themselves: 'This fellow', they said, 'welcomes sinners and eats with them.' | |
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He answered them with this parable: | ← |
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'If one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the missing one until he has found it? | |
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How delighted he is then! He lifts it on to his shoulders, | |
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and home he goes to call his friends and neighbours together. "Rejoice with me!" he cries. "I have found my lost sheep." | |
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In the same way, I tell you, there will be greater joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.
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'Or again, if a woman has ten silver pieces and loses one of them, does she not light the lamp, sweep out the house, and look in every corner till she has found it? | The Parable of the Lost Coin Lk.15.8-10 (Peraea) - |
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And when she has, she calls her friends and neighbours together, and says, "Rejoice with me! I have found the piece that I lost." | |
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In the same way, I tell you, there is joy among the angels of God over one sinner who repents.'
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| 11 |
Again he said: 'There was once a man who had two sons; | The Parable of the Lost Son Lk.15.11-32 (Peraea) - |
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and the younger said to his father, "Father, give me my share of the property." So he divided his estate between them. | |
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A few days later the younger son turned the whole of his share into cash and left home for a distant country, where he squandered it in reckless living. | |
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He had spent it all, when a severe famine fell upon that country and he began to feel the pinch. | |
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So he went and attached himself to one of the local landowners, who sent him on to his farm to mind the pigs. | |
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He would have been glad to fill his belly with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. | |
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Then he came to his senses and said, "How many of my father's paid servants have more food than they can eat, and here am I, starving to death! | |
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I will set off and go to my father, and say to him, 'Father, I have sinned, against God and against you; | |
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I am no longer fit to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.' | |
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"So he set out for his father's house. But while he was still a long way off his father saw him, and his heart went out to him. He ran to meet him, flung his arms round him, and kissed him. | |
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The son said, "Father, I have sinned, against God and against you; I am no longer fit to be called your son." | |
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But the father said to his servants, "Quick! fetch a robe, my best one, and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. | |
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Bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us have a feast to celebrate the day. | |
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For this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found." And the festivities began.
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'Now the elder son was out on the farm; and on his way back, as he approached the house, he heard music and dancing. | |
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He called one of the servants and asked what it meant. | |
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The servant told him, "Your brother has come home, and your father has killed the fatted | |
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calf because he has him back safe and sound." But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out | |
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and pleaded with him; but he retorted, "You know how I have slaved for you all these years; I never once disobeyed your orders; and you never gave me so much as a kid, for a feast with my friends. | |
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But now that this son of yours turns up, after running through your money with his women, you kill the fatted calf for him." | |
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"My boy," said the father, "you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. | |
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How could we help celebrating this happy day? Your brother here was dead and has come back to life, was lost and is found."'
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