7
I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
8
"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?
9
And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!'
10
Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
11
Then He said: "A certain man had two sons.
12
And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.' So he divided to them his livelihood.
13
And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.
14
But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.
15
Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16
And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
17
But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!