"How does it seem to you, when a man has a hundred sheep and loses one of them? Will he not leave the ninety and nine on the hills, to go and search for the one that has strayed?

"And if he succeeds in finding it, I tell you solemnly that he rejoices over it more than over the ninety and nine that never strayed away.

"Which one of you men, if he has a hundred sheep, and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety and nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?

"I say to you that even so there shall be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance.