In the same way, I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to repent.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.
- KJV I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
- NKJV I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
- NASB I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.
- NLT In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
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
Jesus applies the parable: heaven rejoices more over one repentant sinner than over many who think they need no repentance. It rebukes the Pharisees' contempt for sinners.
Overview
Spoken to grumbling Pharisees and scribes (15:1-2), this verse exposes their self-righteousness. The 'ninety-nine righteous' are ironic; in truth all need repentance. God's heart is for the lost, and repentance is the entryway to the joy of salvation that Christ secures.
Cross-references & the web
Theme
- Repentance"Joy in heaven over one sinner who repents."
Cross-references · 10
- Luke 15:10In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”
- Luke 5:32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
- Luke 15:32But 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.’”
- Matt 18:13And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices more over that one sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.
- Prov 30:12There is a generation of those who are pure in their own eyes and yet unwashed of their filth.
- Luke 18:9–11To some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt, He also told this parable:
- Phil 3:6–7as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless.
- Luke 16:15So He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God.
- Rom 7:9Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
- Luke 15:29But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
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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 15:7 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.