Luke 15

The Parable of the Lost Sheep and Coin

¹ Now all the tax gatherers and sinners were drawing nigh to him to be hearing him. ² And the Pharisees and the scribes were complaining saying that: This [one] welcomes sinners and eats with them.

³ But he said to them this parable saying: ⁴ What man among you having [a] hundred sheep and having lost of them one does not leave the ninety nine in the wilderness and proceed to the lost until he find it? ⁵ And when he finds [it] he will place [it] upon his shoulders rejoicing, ⁶ and having come to his house he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them: Rejoice with me, for I found my sheep that [was] lost. ⁷ I say to you that there will be likewise joy in heaven over one sinner repenting than over the ninety nine just [ones] who have no need of repentance.

⁸ Or [a] certain woman having ten drachmas, if she lose one drachma, does she not light [a] lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until it be found? ⁹ And having found [it] she calls together her friends and neighbors saying: Rejoice with me, for I found the drachma that was lost. ¹⁰ Likewise, I say to you, Joy comes to pass before the angels of God over one sinner repenting.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son

¹¹ But I say to you, a certain man was having two sons. ¹² And the younger of them said to the father: Father, give to me the portion of the wealth falling to me. So he divided to them the living. ¹³ And after not many days having gathered everything the younger son journeyed to [a] far country, and there he squandered his wealth zoe-living¹ loosely. ¹⁴ So when he spent all [a] severe famine came to pass against that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ And having gone he joined to one of the citizens of that country and he sent him into his fields to be grazing the pigs. ¹⁶ And he was desiring to fill his belly with pods² that the pigs were eating, and no one was giving [anything] to him. ¹⁷ But coming to himself he said: How many servants of my father have abundance of bread, but I am perishing here in [a] famine. ¹⁸ Having arisen I will go to my father and will say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, ¹⁹ no longer am I worthy to be called your son, make me as one [of your] hired-hands. ²⁰ And having arisen he came to his own father. But while he was being distant afar his father saw him and had compassion, and having run fell upon his neck and kissed him. ²¹ But the son said to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you³, ²² But the father said to his slaves: Swiftly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and give [a] ring for his hand and sandals for his feet, ²³ and be bringing the fatted calf, kill [it], and having eaten let us make merry. ²⁴ For this my son was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found. And he began to be making merry.

²⁵ Now his elder son was in the field, and as he came he drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dance, ²⁶ and calling upon one of the servants he inquired what this might be. ²⁷ But he said to him that his brother has arrived, and your father killed the fatted calf, for he had received him back sound⁴. ²⁸ But he was enraged and did not want to enter. So his father having come out called upon him. ²⁹ But answering he said to the father: Behold so many years I am slaving to you and never transgressed your commandment, and for me you have never given [a] goat that I may make merry with my friends. ³⁰ But when this your son who consumed your living with prostitutes came, you killed for him the fatted calf. ³¹ But he said to him: Child, you are always with me, and all mine is yours. ³² But it was necessary to make merry and rejoice, for this your brother was dead and has returned to zoe-life¹, and was lost⁵ and is found.

¹from ZOE "ZOH-ay" (ζωη)—Life 'collectively', interdependent, interconnected. Although it means 'life' in the conventional sense (for example: Matt.9:18, Matt.27:63, Luke.2:36, Acts.25:24, Rom.7:2, 2Cor.1:8, 1Thes.4:17, 1Tim.5:10, Rev.19:20), Jesus uses ZOE exclusively of 'life eternal' (with the possible exceptions of Luke.15:13, Luke.16:25). The other N.T. writers use ZOE in both senses—temporal and eternal, generally clear from the context. The Father is the 'zoe-living God' (see Matt.16:16). The Septuagint (LXX) in Gen.2:7 has "...[God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of zoe-life, and the man became a zoe-living psyche-life" (and see 1Cor.15:45); and Gen.3:20 (LXX) "And Adam called his wife's name ZOE, because she was the mother of all zoe-living." Contrast PSYCHE (ψυχη): an individual manifestation of life/consciousness. See John.12:25 where both ZOE and PSYCHE occur. Greek also has the word BIOS (βιoς ) for 'life' in the sense of biological processes.

²Refers to the edible pods from a carob tree

³insert "make me as one [of your] hired-hands" BD; text: p⁷⁵WK vg most

⁴or "healthy"

⁵APOLLUMI (απoλλυμι) To lose something that one previously possessed. Can also mean `ruin' or `destroy'—see Rev.9:11 where the angel of the Abyss is named `Apollyon' (same root word). version 3.85.
On 08 Sep 2009, 19:29.