1 And all the tax-gatherers and the sinners were coming near to him to hear him; 2 and the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, This [man] receives sinners and eats with them. 3 And he spoke to them this parable, saying, 4 What man of you having a hundred sheep, and having lost one of them, does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost, until he find it? 5 and having found it, he lays it upon his own shoulders, rejoicing; 6 and being come to the house, calls together the friends and the neighbours, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep. 7 I say unto you, that thus there shall be joy in heaven for one repenting sinner, [more] than for ninety and nine righteous who have no need of repentance. 8 Or, what woman having ten drachmas, if she lose one drachma, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek carefully till she find it? 9 and having found it she calls together the friends and neighbours, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost. 10 Thus, I say unto you, there is joy before the angels of God for one repenting sinner. 11 And he said, A certain man had two sons; 12 and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give to me the share of the property that falls [to me]. And he divided to them what he was possessed of. 13 And after not many days the younger son gathering all together went away into a country a long way off, and there dissipated his property, living in debauchery. 14 But when he had spent all there arose a violent famine throughout that country, and he began to be in want. 15 And he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he longed to fill his belly with the husks which the swine were eating; and no one gave to him. 17 And coming to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have abundance of bread, and I perish here by famine. 18 I will rise up and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. 20 And he rose up and went to his own father. But while he was yet a long way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell upon his neck, and covered him with kisses. 21 And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee; I am no longer worthy to be called thy son. 22 But the father said to his bondmen, Bring out the best robe and clothe him in [it], and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; 23 and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry: 24 for this my son was dead and has come to life, was lost and has been found. And they began to make merry. 25 And his elder son was in the field; and as, coming [up], he drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And having called one of the servants, he inquired what these things might be. 27 And he said to him, Thy brother is come, and thy father has killed the fatted calf because he has received him safe and well. 28 But he became angry and would not go in. And his father went out and besought him. 29 But he answering said to his father, Behold, so many years I serve thee, and never have I transgressed a commandment of thine; and to me hast thou never given a kid that I might make merry with my friends: 30 but when this thy son, who has devoured thy substance with harlots, is come, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 31 But he said to him, Child, thou art ever with me, and all that is mine is thine. 32 But it was right to make merry and rejoice, because this thy brother was dead and has come to life again, and was lost and has been found.
Luke 15 Darby Translation
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (29)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 1 Timothy 1:15; Matthew 9:10–13; Luke 5:29–32; Matthew 21:28–31; Ezekiel 18:27
- 2 Matthew 9:11; Luke 7:39; Luke 19:7; Luke 5:30; Acts 11:3
- 4 Ezekiel 34:16; Ezekiel 34:11–12; Matthew 18:12–14; Luke 19:10; 1 Peter 2:25
- 5 Hebrews 12:2; Isaiah 46:3–4; Luke 19:9; Micah 7:18; Isaiah 40:10–11
- 6 Luke 15:10; Luke 15:24; 1 Peter 2:25; Psalm 119:176; John 15:14
- 7 Luke 15:10; Luke 5:32; Luke 15:32; Matthew 18:13; Proverbs 30:12
- 8 Ezekiel 34:12; Luke 19:10; John 10:16; John 11:52; Ephesians 2:17
- 9 Luke 15:6–7
- 10 Luke 15:7; Ezekiel 33:11; 2 Corinthians 7:10; Ezekiel 18:23; Luke 13:5
- 12 Deuteronomy 21:16–17; Mark 12:44; Psalm 17:14; Luke 15:30
- 13 Proverbs 21:17; Proverbs 29:3; Jeremiah 2:5; Proverbs 23:19–22; Luke 15:30
- 14 2 Chronicles 33:11; Ezekiel 16:27; Hosea 2:9–14; Amos 8:9–12
- 15 Titus 3:3; 2 Timothy 2:25–26; Isaiah 1:5; Nahum 3:6; Jeremiah 5:3
- 16 Romans 6:19–21; Hosea 12:1; Isaiah 44:20; Lamentations 4:5; Jonah 2:2–8
- 17 Ezekiel 18:28; Ephesians 2:4–5; Luke 15:18–19; Ephesians 5:14; Acts 16:29–30
- 18 Lamentations 3:40; 1 John 1:8–10; Luke 15:21; Luke 18:13; Psalm 51:3–5
- 19 Job 42:6; Psalm 84:10; 1 Peter 5:6; James 4:8–10; Joshua 9:24–25
- 20 Psalm 103:10–13; Psalm 86:5; Psalm 86:15; Ephesians 2:13; Isaiah 49:15
- 21 Psalm 51:4; Luke 15:18–19; Jeremiah 3:13; 1 Corinthians 8:12; Romans 2:4
- 22 Esther 8:2; Genesis 41:42; Isaiah 61:10; Revelation 6:11; Esther 3:10
- 23 Matthew 22:2–14; Psalm 63:5; Isaiah 25:6; Genesis 18:7; Isaiah 65:13–14
- 24 Ephesians 2:5; Ezekiel 34:16; Luke 19:10; Colossians 2:13; Luke 15:4
- 25 Psalm 150:4; Jeremiah 31:4; Luke 15:11–12; Psalm 126:1; Luke 7:32
- 27 Luke 15:30; Philemon 16; Acts 22:13; Acts 9:17
- 28 1 Samuel 18:8; Jonah 4:9; Genesis 4:5–7; Luke 15:2; Luke 7:39
- 29 Luke 15:7; Zechariah 7:3; Luke 18:11–12; Malachi 3:14; Luke 18:20–21
- 30 Luke 15:12–13; Proverbs 29:3; Luke 18:11; Luke 15:32; Exodus 32:7
- 31 Mark 7:27–28; Romans 11:1; Romans 9:4; Matthew 20:13–16; Romans 11:35
- 32 Ephesians 2:1–10; Luke 15:24; Isaiah 35:10; Romans 3:4; Psalm 51:8
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
In the same way they oracularly declare, that one power having departed also from the Duodecad, has perished; and this was represented by the woman who lost the drachma, and, lighting a lamp, again found it.
Far, indeed, was I wandering away from Thee, being even shut out from the very husks of the swine, whom with husks I fed. For how much better, then, are the fables of the grammarians and poets than these snares!
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
But Luke saith, that He even brought it on his shoulders, and that "There was greater joy over one sinner that repenteth, than over ninety and nine just persons." And from His forsaking those that were saved for it, and from His taking more pleasure in this one, He showed His earnestness about it to be great.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
… Christ, as yet by calling only, but ere long by grace also, make you a new heart and a new spirit, that there may be gladness among the inhabitants of heaven: for if over one sinner that repenteth there is joy, according to the Gospel, how much more shall the salvation of so many souls move the inhabitants of …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
… no repentance." And with much joyfulness do we hear, whenever we hear, how the lost sheep is brought home again on the Shepherd's shoulders, while the angels rejoice, and the drachma is restored to Thy treasury, the neighhours rejoicing with the woman who found it; and the joy of the solemn service of Thy house constraineth to tears, when in …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)