Luke 15

Tax collectors and people known as sinners were all coming close to Jesus to listen to him.

1Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

Note"Publicans" were tax collectors: local men who bought or held the right to collect Rome's tolls and taxes from their own people, keeping whatever they could squeeze above the quota. They were widely despised as collaborators and cheats. "Sinners" here is close to a social label rather than a private judgment: people whose trade or way of life kept them outside strict observance of the law, and who were therefore avoided by the scrupulous.

2The Pharisees and the scribes, the experts in the law of Moses, complained about this. They said, "This man welcomes sinners, and he even eats with them."

2And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

NoteThe Pharisees were a strict lay movement devoted to keeping the law of Moses in daily life, including its rules about food and purity. The scribes were the trained scholars and copyists who interpreted that law. The complaint is not only about talking to such people: in that world sharing a meal was a public declaration that you accepted someone as an equal and a friend, so "eateth with them" is the sharper half of the charge.

3So Jesus told them this story.

3And he spake this parable unto them, saying,

NoteA parable is a short comparison story drawn from ordinary life, told to make a point by analogy. The word does not mean a fable or an invented moral tale so much as a case laid alongside the matter under discussion.

4"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Won't you leave the ninety-nine out in the open country and go looking for the lost one until you find it?

4What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

NoteIn 1611 "wilderness" meant uninhabited, uncultivated country, the rough open grazing land where flocks were pastured. It does not mean sandy desert. A hundred sheep was a respectable but not huge flock, the holding of an ordinary owner rather than a rich one.

5And when he finds it, he lifts it onto his shoulders, glad.

5And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

6When he gets home, he calls his friends and neighbors together and says to them, 'Be glad with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.'

6And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

7I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who turns away from sin than over ninety-nine good people who do not need to turn.

7I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

Note"Repenteth" translates a Greek word meaning to change one's mind and turn around, a reversal of direction rather than merely feeling sorry. "Just persons" is the older English for righteous, meaning people who keep the law as they should.

8"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one of them. Won't she light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?

8Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?

NoteThe coin is a drachma, a Greek silver piece worth roughly a day's wage for a laborer. Ten of them is a real sum, not small change. "Candle" in 1611 English covered any small light, and what she lights is a clay oil lamp; village houses of the period had few windows and beaten earth or stone floors, so a dropped coin genuinely needed lamplight and a broom to find.

9And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Be glad with me, because I have found the coin I lost.'

9And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.

10In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who turns away from sin."

10Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

11Then Jesus said, "There was a man who had two sons.

11And he said, A certain man had two sons:

12The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the property that will come to me.' So the father divided what he owned between the two of them.

12And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.

NoteUnder the inheritance customs of the time property normally passed at the father's death, and the eldest son received a double share (so with two sons the younger would get a third). Asking for the share while the father was alive and well was an extraordinary demand, in effect treating him as already dead. "His living" in the King James is the older sense of the word: the property and income a man lives on.

13A few days later the younger son gathered together everything he had, traveled to a country far away, and there threw his money away on wild living.

13And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

Note"Riotous living" in 1611 English means wasteful, spendthrift living. The Greek adverb behind it likewise says he lived without saving anything, squandering rather than specifying what vices he squandered it on.

14After he had spent it all, a severe famine came over that country, and he started to go without.

14And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

NoteA famine meant not just hunger but the collapse of casual employment and charity at the same moment, since everyone's surplus vanished at once. "He began to be in want" is the older phrase for starting to go without necessities.

15So he went and hired himself out to a man who lived there, and that man sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

15And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

NotePigs were unclean animals under the law of Moses, forbidden as food and not kept by Jews. For a Jewish man to hire himself out as a pig herder to a foreigner was about as far down as work could go.

16He would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

16And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.

NoteThe "husks" are carob pods, the hard dark seed pods of the carob tree, used as cheap animal fodder. People ate them only in desperation.

17Then he came to his senses and said, 'My father has so many hired workers who have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger!

17And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

Note"Hired servants" are day laborers, taken on by the day for wages and not part of the household. They ranked below household slaves, who at least had a permanent place, food and shelter. The son is proposing the lowest rung in his father's establishment. "Bread" in the King James often stands for food in general, not just the loaf.

18I will get up and go to my father and say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

18I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,

NoteJews of the period often avoided saying "God" out of reverence and said "heaven" instead. "I have sinned against heaven" means against God, and the same substitution stands behind "joy shall be in heaven" earlier in the chapter.

19I am not worthy to be called your son anymore. Make me like one of your hired workers."'

19And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

20So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt deep pity for him. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him.

20And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

Note"Fell on his neck" is the King James idiom for throwing one's arms around someone. A landowner of standing did not normally run in public; it required hitching up the long robe and exposing the legs, and was thought undignified for an older man.

21The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am not worthy to be called your son anymore.'

21And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

22But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

22But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

NoteEach item is a mark of standing rather than mere clothing. The best robe is the household's finest garment, the one a guest of honor would be given. The ring is a signet ring, used to stamp a seal on documents, so handing it over grants authority to act for the family. Servants and slaves went barefoot; shoes on the feet mark him out as a free son of the house.

23And bring the calf we have been fattening and kill it. Let us eat and celebrate.

23And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:

NoteThe fatted calf was a young animal deliberately penned and fed up for a major occasion. Meat was rare in an ordinary diet, and a whole calf yields far more than one family can eat, so killing it means a feast for the whole village.

24For this son of mine was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.

24For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

25Now the older son was out in the field. As he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.

25Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.

Note"Musick and dancing" here is communal celebration, the ordinary form a village feast took, not a private entertainment.

26So he called one of the servants over and asked what all this meant.

26And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.

27The servant told him, 'Your brother has come home, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has him back safe and well.'

27And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.

28The older son was angry and would not go in. So his father came outside and begged him to come.

28And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.

29But he answered his father, 'Look, all these years I have served you, and I never once disobeyed an order of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

29And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:

NoteThe King James "kid" is a young goat. The contrast is one of scale and expense: a goat feeds a small group of friends, while the calf his father killed feeds a village.

30But when this son of yours came home, the one who ate up your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!'

30But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.

31The father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.

31And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.

NoteThe word the father uses is not the ordinary word for son but a tender word meaning child, the sort of address a parent uses to his own.

32It was right for us to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.'"

32It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

Note"Meet" in 1611 English means fitting or proper, the right thing to do. It has nothing to do with meeting someone.