Text -- Luke 15:1-4 (NET)

The Parable of the Lost Sheep and Coin

15:1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming to hear him. 15:2 But the Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 15:3 So Jesus told them this parable: 15:4 “Which one of you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go look for the one that is lost until he finds it?

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Luk 15:1

¹ sn See the note on tax collectors in 3:12.

² tn Grk “were drawing near.”

NET Notes: Luk 15:2

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

² sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

³ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

⁴ tn Or “grumbling”; Grk “were complaining, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

⁵ tn Or “accepts,” “receives.” This is not the first time this issue has been raised: Luke 5:27-32; 7:37-50.

NET Notes: Luk 15:3

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate that Jesus’ telling of the parable is in response to the complaints of the Pharisees and experts in the law.

² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ sn Them means at the minimum the parable is for the leadership, but probably also for those people Jesus accepted, but the leaders regarded as outcasts.

⁴ tn Grk “parable, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

NET Notes: Luk 15:4

¹ tn Grk “What man.” The Greek word ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used here in a somewhat generic sense.

² sn This individual with a hundred sheep is a shepherd of modest means, as flocks often had up to two hundred head of sheep.

³ tn Or “desert,” but here such a translation might suggest neglect of the 99 sheep left behind.

⁴ tn Grk “go after,” but in contemporary English the idiom “to look for” is used to express this.

⁵ sn Until he finds it. The parable pictures God’s pursuit of the sinner. On the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, see John 10:1-18.