Luke 15 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

Parable of the Lost Sheep

(Mat 18:10–14 )

Luk 15:1Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach.

Luk 15:2This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

Luk 15:3

Luk 15:3So Jesus told them this story:

Luk 15:4

Luk 15:4“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?

Luk 15:5

Luk 15:5And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders.

Luk 15:6

Luk 15:6When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’

Luk 15:7

Luk 15:7In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

Parable of the Lost Coin

Luk 15:8

Luk 15:8“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[fn] and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it?

Luk 15:9

Luk 15:9And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’

Luk 15:10

Luk 15:10In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”

Parable of the Lost Son

Luk 15:11

Luk 15:11To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons.

Luk 15:12

Luk 15:12The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.

Luk 15:13

Luk 15:13“A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living.

Luk 15:14

Luk 15:14About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve.

Luk 15:15

Luk 15:15He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs.

Luk 15:16

Luk 15:16The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.

Luk 15:17

Luk 15:17“When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger!

Luk 15:18

Luk 15:18I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you,

Luk 15:19

Luk 15:19and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’

Luk 15:20

Luk 15:20“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.

Luk 15:21

Luk 15:21His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.[fn]’

Luk 15:22

Luk 15:22“But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet.

Luk 15:23

Luk 15:23And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast,

Luk 15:24

Luk 15:24for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.

Luk 15:25

Luk 15:25“Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house,

Luk 15:26

Luk 15:26and he asked one of the servants what was going on.

Luk 15:27

Luk 15:27‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’

Luk 15:28

Luk 15:28“The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him,

Luk 15:29

Luk 15:29but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends.

Luk 15:30

Luk 15:30Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’

Luk 15:31

Luk 15:31“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours.

Luk 15:32

Luk 15:32We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”

See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NLT Footnotes

(15:8)

Greek ten drachmas. A drachma was the equivalent of a full day’s wage.

(15:21)

Some manuscripts add Please take me on as a hired servant.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.