Gospel according to Luke

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn't first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?

Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him,

saying, 'This man began to build, and wasn't able to finish.'

Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy, and asks for conditions of peace.

So therefore whoever of you who doesn't renounce all that he has, he can't be my disciple.

Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?

It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him.

The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them."

He told them this parable.

"Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn't leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it?

When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'

I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.

Or what woman, if she had ten drachma coins, if she lost one drachma, wouldn't light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it?

When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.'

Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting."

He said, "A certain man had two sons.

The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of your property.' He divided his livelihood between them.