Matthew 18:10-14 - The Parable Of The Lost Sheep

¹⁰ "Beware of feeling scornful of one single little child, for I tell you that in heaven their angels have continual access to my Father in heaven. ¹¹ OMITTED TEXT ¹² What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them strays away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills, and go in search of the one that is astray? ¹³ And if he happens to find it, I tell you he rejoices more over it than he does over the ninety-nine that did not stray. ¹⁴ In just that way, it is the will of my Father in heaven that not a single one of these children be lost.

¹ All the tax-collectors and irreligious people were crowding up to hear him. ² And the Pharisees and scribes grumbled, and said, "This man welcomes irreligious people, and even eats with them!"

³ So in speaking to them he used this figure: ⁴ "What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep, and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go in search of the one that is lost, until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he puts it on his shoulders with joy, ⁶ and when he reaches home, he calls in his friends and neighbors, and says to them, 'Congratulate me, for I have found my lost sheep!' ⁷ I tell you, in just that way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinful person who repents, than over ninety-nine upright people who do not need any repentance.