1 NOW THE tax collectors and [notorious and 1 especially wicked] sinners were all coming near to [Jesus] to listen to Him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes kept muttering and indignantly complaining, saying, This man accepts and receives and welcomes [ 2 preeminently wicked] sinners and eats with them.
3 So He told them this parable: 4 What man of you, if he has a hundred sheep and should lose one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness (desert) and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his [own] shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he gets home, he summons together [his] friends and [his] neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep which was lost. 7 Thus, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one [ 3 especially] wicked person who repents ( 3 changes his mind, abhorring his errors and misdeeds, and determines to enter upon a better course of life) than over ninety-nine righteous persons who have no need of repentance.