Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger son said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. After a few days, the younger son got everything together and journeyed to a distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent all he had, a severe famine swept through that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. . . .

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around to listen to Jesus. So the Pharisees and scribes began to grumble: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, . . .

But it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still in the distance, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.

Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons.

After a few days, the younger son got everything together and journeyed to a distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living.

The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

For this son of mine was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food? But here I am, starving to death!

One day an expert in the law stood up to test Him. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” Jesus replied. “How do you read it?” He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus said. “Do this and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” . . .

He longed to fill his belly with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him a thing.

One Sabbath, Jesus went to eat in the home of a leading Pharisee, and those in attendance were watching Him closely. Right there before Him was a man with dropsy. So Jesus asked the experts in the law and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” But they remained silent. Then Jesus took hold of the man, healed him, and sent him on his way. And He asked them, “Which of you whose son or ox falls into a pit on the Sabbath day will not immediately pull him out?” . . .

Or what woman who has ten silver coins and loses one of them does not light a lamp, sweep her house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors to say, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”

Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?

But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

Meanwhile the older son was in the field, and as he approached the house, he heard music and dancing.

The younger son said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

comes home, and calls together his friends and neighbors to tell them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep!’

In the same way, I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to repent.

‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’

Instead, he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of his unloved wife, by giving him a double portion of all that he has. For that son is the firstfruits of his father’s strength; the right of the firstborn belongs to him.

Then Pharaoh removed the signet ring from his finger, put it on Joseph’s finger, clothed him in garments of fine linen, and placed a gold chain around his neck.

But when this son of yours returns from squandering your wealth with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

After removing Saul, He raised up David as their king and testified about him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after My own heart; he will carry out My will in its entirety.’

If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined,

After he had spent all he had, a severe famine swept through that country, and he began to be in need.

So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed the pigs.

I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours returns from squandering your wealth with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

‘Son, you are always with me,’ the father said, ‘and all that is mine is yours.

He who assaults his father or evicts his mother is a son who brings shame and disgrace.

Whoever curses his father or mother, his lamp will be extinguished in deepest darkness.

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good to abstain from sexual relations. But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife. Do not deprive each other, except by mutual consent and for a time, so you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again, so that Satan will not tempt you through your lack of self-control. . . .

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.

My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, consider this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’

So the Pharisees and scribes began to grumble: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and celebrate.

The older son became angry and refused to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him.

A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Now about virgins, I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. Because of the present crisis, I think it is good for a man to remain as he is. Are you committed to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you free of commitment? Do not look for a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this. What I am saying, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; . . .

As soon as night had fallen, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.

They all wept openly as they embraced Paul and kissed him.

In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of your sinful nature, with the circumcision performed by Christ and not by human hands. And having been buried with Him in baptism, you were raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses, having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross! And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. . . .

These are the commandments and statutes and ordinances that the LORD your God has instructed me to teach you to follow in the land that you are about to enter and possess, so that you and your children and grandchildren may fear the LORD your God all the days of your lives by keeping all His statutes and commandments that I give you, and so that your days may be prolonged. Hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. . . .

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more. But this is not the way you came to know Christ. Surely you heard of Him and were taught in Him—in keeping with the truth that is in Jesus— . . .

Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children,

And the pig, though it has a split hoof completely divided, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you.

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around to listen to Jesus.

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around to listen to Jesus. So the Pharisees and scribes began to grumble: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around to listen to Jesus. So the Pharisees and scribes began to grumble: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, . . .

In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”

Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger son said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. After a few days, the younger son got everything together and journeyed to a distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent all he had, a severe famine swept through that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. . . .

Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food? But here I am, starving to death! I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’ So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still in the distance, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.

So he called one of the servants and asked what was going on.

‘Your brother has returned,’ he said, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has him back safe and sound.’

‘Son, you are always with me,’ the father said, ‘and all that is mine is yours. But it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

Jesus also said to His disciples, “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in to ask, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in an account of your management, for you cannot be manager any longer.’ The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking away my position? I am too weak to dig and too ashamed to beg. I know what I will do, so that after my removal from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’ And he called in each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he asked the first. . . .

To some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt, He also told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the other men—swindlers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ . . .

But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and stand among us.” So he got up and stood there.

But what do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first one and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.