17
"But on coming to himself he said, "`How many of my father's hired men have more bread than they want, while I here am dying of hunger!
18
I will rise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you:
19
I no longer deserve to be called a son of yours: treat me as one of your hired men.'
20
"So he rose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and pitied him, and ran and threw his arms round his neck and kissed him tenderly.
21
"`Father,' cried the son, `I have sinned against Heaven and before you: no longer do I deserve to be called a son of yours.'
22
"But the father said to his servants, "`Fetch a good coat quickly--the best one--and put it on him; and bring a ring for his finger and shoes for his feet.
23
Fetch the fat calf and kill it, and let us feast and enjoy ourselves;
24
for my son here was dead and has come to life again: he was lost and has been found.' "And they began to be merry.
25
"Now his elder son was out on the farm; and when he returned and came near home, he heard music and dancing.
26
Then he called one of the lads to him and asked what all this meant.
27
"`Your brother has come,' he replied; `and your father has had the fat calf killed, because he has got him home safe and sound.'