Luke 15:16-23

¹⁶That boy was so hungry he wanted to eat the garbage that the pigs ate, but nobody gave him anything to eat.

¹⁷At last he started to think properly. He thought, ‘Those men who work for my dad in his garden back home, they always get enough to eat. But I am getting so hungry that I reckon I will die in this place.

¹⁸So I will get up now and go back home to my dad, and I will say to him, “Dad, I’m sorry, I went wrong. I did wrong to God, and I did wrong to you.

¹⁹So now I’m not good enough for you to call me your son, but just let me have a job in your garden. I will work for you, and you can just call me your working man.” ’

²⁰So he got up and started to go back to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming, walking up the road. His father felt real sorry for him. He got up and ran to his son and hugged him and kissed him.

²¹Then the boy said, ‘Dad, I’m sorry, I went wrong. I did wrong to God, and I did wrong to you. So now I’m not good enough for you to call me your son.’

²²But his father said to his working men there, ‘Go and get some really good clothes and put them on him. And be quick. And get him a ring for his finger, and get some shoes for his feet.

²³And get a fat young bullock, and kill it, and cook the meat, so we can all have a big party.