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¹ And all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to Him, to hear Him,² and the Pharisees and the scribes were murmuring, saying, "This One receives sinners, and eats with them."³ And He spoke to them this allegory, saying,⁴ "What man of you having one hundred sheep, and having lost one out of them, does not leave behind the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go on after the lost one, until he may find it?⁵ And having found, he lays [it] on his shoulders rejoicing,⁶ and having come into the house, he calls together the friends and the neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, because I found my sheep—the lost one.⁷ I say to you that [more] joy will be in Heaven over one sinner converting, rather than over ninety-nine righteous men who have no need of conversion.⁸ Or what woman having ten drachmas, if she may lose one drachma, does not light a lamp, and sweep the house, and seek carefully until she may find?⁹ And having found, she calls together the female friends and the neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I found the drachma that I lost.¹⁰ So I say to you, joy comes before the messengers of God over one sinner converting."

¹¹ And He said, "A certain man had two sons,¹² and the younger of them said to the father, Father, give me the portion of the substance falling to [me], and he divided to them the living.¹³ And not many days after, having gathered all together, the younger son went abroad to a far country, and there he scattered his substance, living riotously;¹⁴ and he having spent all, there came a mighty famine on that country, and himself began to be in want;¹⁵ and having gone on, he joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into the fields to feed pigs,¹⁶ and he was desirous to fill his belly from the husks that the pigs were eating, and no one was giving to him.¹⁷ And having come to himself, he said, How many hired workers of my father have a superabundance of bread, and I am perishing here with hunger!¹⁸ Having risen, I will go on to my father, and will say to him, Father, I sinned—to Heaven, and before you,¹⁹ and I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired workers.²⁰ And having risen, he went to his own father, and he being yet far distant, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and having ran he fell on his neck and kissed him;²¹ and the son said to him, Father, I sinned—to Heaven, and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.²² And the father said to his servants, Bring forth the foremost robe, and clothe him, and give a ring for his hand, and sandals for the feet;²³ and having brought the fatted calf, kill [it], and having eaten, we may be merry,²⁴ because this son of mine was dead, and lived again, and he was lost, and was found; and they began to be merry.²⁵ And his elder son was in a field, and as, coming, he drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing,²⁶ and having called near one of the young men, he was inquiring what these things might be,²⁷ and he said to him, Your brother has arrived, and your father killed the fatted calf, because he received him back in health.²⁸ And he was angry, and would not go in, therefore his father, having come forth, was pleading him;²⁹ and he answering said to the father, Behold, so many years I serve you, and never did I transgress your command, and you never gave to me a kid that I might make merry with my friends;³⁰ but when your son—this one who devoured your living with prostitutes—came, you killed to him the fatted calf.³¹ And he said to him, Child, you are always with me, and all my things are yours;³² but to be merry, and to be glad, it was necessary, because this your brother was dead, and lived again, he was lost, and was found."