1. Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were drawing near to hear him.
2. And both the Pharisees and the scribes were complaining, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!”
3. So he told them this parable, saying,
4. “What man of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the grassland and go after the one that was lost until he finds it?
5. And when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6. And when he returns to his home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost!’
7. I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.
8. Or what woman who has ten drachmas, if she loses one drachma, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
9. And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the drachma that I had lost!’
10. In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”