26
and he asked one of the servants what was going on.
27
‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
28
“The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him,
29
but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends.
30
Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
31
“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours.
32
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!’”