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The tax collectors and sinners, however, were all crowding round to listen to him,
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and the Pharisees and scribes complained saying, 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.'
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So he told them this parable:
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'Which one of you with a hundred sheep, if he lost one, would fail to leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the missing one till he found it?
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And when he found it, would he not joyfully take it on his shoulders
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and then, when he got home, call together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, "Rejoice with me, I have found my sheep that was lost."
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In the same way, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner repenting than over ninety-nine upright people who have no need of repentance.
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'Or again, what woman with ten drachmas would not, if she lost one, light a lamp and sweep out the house and search thoroughly till she found it?
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And then, when she had found it, call together her friends and neighbours, saying to them, "Rejoice with me, I have found the drachma I lost."
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In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one repentant sinner.'
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Then he said,
'There was a man who had two sons.
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The younger one said to his father, "Father, let me have the share of the estate that will come to me." So the father divided the property between them.
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A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.
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'When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch;
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so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs.
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And he would willingly have filled himself with the husks the pigs were eating but no one would let him have them.
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Then he came to his senses and said, "How many of my father's hired men have all the food they want and more, and here am I dying of hunger!
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I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you;
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I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired men."
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So he left the place and went back to his father. 'While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him.
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Then his son said, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son."
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But the father said to his servants, "Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
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Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we will celebrate by having a feast,
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because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found." And they began to celebrate.
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'Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing.
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Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about.
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The servant told him, "Your brother has come, and your father has killed the calf we had been fattening because he has got him back safe and sound."
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He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out and began to urge him to come in;
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but he retorted to his father, "All these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed any orders of yours, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends.
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But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property -- he and his loose women -- you kill the calf we had been fattening."
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'The father said, "My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours.
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But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found." '
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