We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”
Parallel translations
- WEB But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’”
- KJV It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
- BSB But it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
- NKJV It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ”
- NASB But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’ ”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The father insists it was right to celebrate, for the lost brother was dead and is alive again. The parable ends open, urging the elder to rejoice.
Overview
The father reframes the younger as 'your brother,' calling the elder to embrace him. The parable closes without telling whether the elder son relents, leaving the Pharisees and every reader to decide. Will we share the Father's joy over repentant sinners, the joy at the heart of the gospel?
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Eph 2:1–10You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,
- Luke 15:24for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ They began to celebrate.
- Isa 35:10The Yahweh’s ransomed ones will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
- Ps 51:8Let me hear joy and gladness, That the bones which you have broken may rejoice.
- Rom 3:4May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar. As it is written, “That you might be justified in your words, and might prevail when you come into judgment.”
- Jonah 4:10–11Yahweh said, “You have been concerned for the vine, for which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night.
- Rom 15:9–13and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore will I give praise to you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”
- Hos 14:9Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the righteous walk in them; But the rebellious stumble in them.
- Rom 3:19Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
- Luke 7:34The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man, and a drunkard; a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 15:32 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.