1 And all the tax-gatherers and the sinners were coming nigh to him, to hear him, 2 and the Pharisees and the scribes were murmuring, saying — This one doth receive sinners, and doth eat with them.' 3 And he spake unto them this simile, saying, 4 'What man of you having a hundred sheep, and having lost one out of them, doth not leave behind the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go on after the lost one, till he may find it? 5 and having found, he doth lay [it] on his shoulders rejoicing, 6 and having come to the house, he doth call together the friends and the neighbours, saying to them, Rejoice with me, because I found my sheep — the lost one. 7 'I say to you, that so joy shall be in the heaven over one sinner reforming, rather than over ninety-nine righteous men, who have no need of reformation. 8 'Or what woman having ten drachms, if she may lose one drachm, doth not light a lamp, and sweep the house, and seek carefully till that she may find? 9 and having found, she doth call together the female friends and the neighbours, saying, Rejoice with me, for I found the drachm that I lost. 10 'So I say to you, joy doth come before the messengers of God over one sinner reforming.' 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 to the fields to feed swine, 16 and he was desirous to fill his belly from the husks that the swine were eating, and no one was giving to him. 17 'And having come to himself, he said, How many hirelings of my father have a superabundance of bread, and I here with hunger am perishing! 18 having risen, I will go on unto my father, and will say to him, Father, I did sin — to the heaven, and before thee, 19 and no more am I worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hirelings. 20 'And having risen, he went unto his own father, and he being yet far distant, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and having ran he fell upon his neck and kissed him; 21 and the son said to him, Father, I did sin — to the heaven, and before thee, and no more am I worthy to be called thy son. 22 'And the father said unto his servants, Bring forth the first 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 my son was dead, and did live 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 nigh 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 — Thy brother is arrived, and thy father did kill the fatted calf, because in health he did receive him back. 28 'And he was angry, and would not go in, therefore his father, having come forth, was entreating him; 29 and he answering said to the father, Lo, so many years I do serve thee, and never thy command did I transgress, and to me thou didst never give a kid, that with my friends I might make merry; 30 but when thy son — this one who did devour thy living with harlots — came, thou didst kill to him the fatted calf. 31 'And he said to him, Child, thou art always with me, and all my things are thine; 32 but to be merry, and to be glad, it was needful, because this thy brother was dead, and did live again, he was lost, and was found.'
Luke · Young's Literal Translation
Luke 15 Young's Literal 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)