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    Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. [12] The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
    [13] "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. [14] After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. [15] So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. [16] He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
    [17] "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! [18] I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. [19] I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' [20] So he got up and went to his father.
    "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
    [21] "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
    [22] "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. [23] Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. [24] For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
    [25] "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. [26] So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. [27] 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
    [28] "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. [29] But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. [30] But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
    [31] " 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. [32] But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "  ^_[NIV]

    Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. [12] The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
    [13] "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.  ^_[NIV]

    For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. [22] Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools [23] and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
    [24] Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. [25] They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.
    [26] Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. [27] In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
    [28] Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. [29] They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, [30] slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; [31] they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. [32] Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. ^_[NIV]

    Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
    [22] At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.  ^_[NIV]

    Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!"
    He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the Lord had left him.  ^_[NIV]

    "But my people would not listen to me;
        Israel would not submit to me.
    [12] So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
        to follow their own devices. _^[NIV]

    "How long will you simple ones love your simple ways?
        How long will mockers delight in mockery
        and fools hate knowledge?
    [23] If you had responded to my rebuke,
        I would have poured out my heart to you
        and made my thoughts known to you.
    [24] But since you rejected me when I called
        and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand,
    [25] since you ignored all my advice
        and would not accept my rebuke,
    [26] I in turn will laugh at your disaster;
        I will mock when calamity overtakes you--
    [27] when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
        when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
        when distress and trouble overwhelm you.
     [28] "Then they will call to me but I will not answer;
        they will look for me but will not find me.
    [29] Since they hated knowledge
        and did not choose to fear the Lord,
    [30] since they would not accept my advice
        and spurned my rebuke,
    [31] they will eat the fruit of their ways
        and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.
    [32] For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
        and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
    [33] but whoever listens to me will live in safety
        and be at ease, without fear of harm."  _^[NIV]

    "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. [38] Look, your house is left to you desolate. [39] For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" _^[NIV]

    "But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. [40] They told Aaron, 'Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt--we don't know what has happened to him!' [41] That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and held a celebration in honor of what their hands had made. [42] But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:
    " 'Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
        forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
    [43] You have lifted up the shrine of Molech
        and the star of your god Rephan,
        the idols you made to worship.
    Therefore I will send you into exile' beyond Babylon. _^[NIV]

    "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ^_[NIV]

    The plans of the righteous are just,
        but the advice of the wicked is deceitful. _^[NIV]

    For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.  _^[NIV]

    My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, [3] in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. [4] I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.  _^[NIV]

    The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. _^[NIV]

Luke 15:19

    I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.'  _^[NIV]

    At the king's command, couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the king and from his officials, which read:
  "People of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. [7] Do not be like your fathers and brothers, who were unfaithful to the Lord, the God of their fathers, so that he made them an object of horror, as you see. [8] Do not be stiff-necked, as your fathers were; submit to the Lord. Come to the sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever. Serve the Lord your God, so that his fierce anger will turn away from you. [9] If you return to the Lord, then your brothers and your children will be shown compassion by their captors and will come back to this land, for the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him."  _^[NIV]

    Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [9] Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. [10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.  _^[NIV]

    "Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."  _^[NIV]

    Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. [2] Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.  _^[NIV]

    "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. [23] Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. [24] For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
    [25] "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. [26] So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. [27] 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
    [28] "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. [29] But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.  _^[NIV]

    As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. [39] She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. [40] But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
    [41] "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, [42] but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."  _^[NIV]

    For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- [9] not by works, so that no one can boast. _^[NIV]

    "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  _^[NIV]

    Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."  _^[NIV]

    At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. [4] But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, [5] he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, [6] whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, [7] so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. _^[NIV]

    The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  _^[NIV]