Now tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to him to hear him.

And the scribes and Pharisees were murmuring and saying, This one receives sinners and eats with them.

And Y'shua said to them this parable:

Who among you is a man who has a hundred sheep, and if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go seek the one that is lost until he finds it?

And when he has found it, he rejoices and takes it on his shoulders,

and comes to his house and calls his friends and his neighbors and says to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.

I say to you that there will thus be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety-nine just ones to whom repentance is not necessary.

Or what woman is there who has ten drachmas and loses one of them, and does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search for it carefully until she finds it?

And when she has found it, she calls her friends and her neighbors and says to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my drachma that was lost.

I say to you that there will thus be joy before the messengers of Elohim over one sinner who repents.

And Y'shua said to them again: A certain man had two sons.

And his younger son said to him: My father, give me the portion that falls to me from your house. And he divided to them his property.

And after a few days, that younger son gathered everything that came to him and went to a distant place and there scattered his property while living wastefully.

And when he finished everything that he had, there was a great famine in that place and he began to be in want.

And he went and joined himself to one of the sons of the city of that place and he sent him into the field to tend swine.

And he was longing to fill his belly with those pods that the swine were eating and no one was giving to him.

And when he came to himself he said, How many hired servants are there now in my father's house who have more than enough bread and I here am perishing with hunger.

I will arise and go to my father and say to him, My father, I have sinned in heaven and before you;

and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.

And he rose and came to his father. And while he was still far off, his father saw him and had pity on him, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

And his son said to him: My father, I have sinned in heaven and before you, and I am not worthy to be called your son.

But his father said to his servants: Bring out the best robe and clothe him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on him.

And bring and kill the fattened bull, and let us eat and be merry.

For this my son was dead and is alive, and was lost and is found. And they began to be merry.

Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and drew near to the house, he heard the sound of the singing of many.

And he called one of the boys and asked him what this was.

He said to him, Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened bull because he has received him healthy.

And he was angry and would not go in, and his father went out and begged him.

But he said to his father, Look, how many years I have served you, and I have never transgressed your command, and you never gave me a kid that I might make merry with my friends.

But for this your son, when he had wasted your property with harlots and came home, you have killed the fattened bull for him.

His father said to him, My son, you are always with me, and everything that is mine is yours.

But it was right for us to make merry and rejoice, because this your brother was dead and is alive, and was lost and is found.