Luke 15:4

“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Jesus addresses the Pharisees and scribes who were grumbling that he received sinners (v.2), introducing the parable of the lost sheep.

The words — τὶς (tis), "what," opens a rhetorical question that universalizes the scenario: every listener must recognize the obvious answer before the parable can proceed.

The thread — Matthew 18:12 preserves the same illustration in a different context (offending a brother), and Ezekiel 34:11, 16 grounds the image in God's own self-description as the shepherd who seeks the strays.

Why it lands — The question makes the listener's own instinct the standard: if you would leave the ninety-nine, then the one who refuses to seek the lost is the one who has failed, not the one who goes.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

Cross-references

Ezekiel 34:16 I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.’
Ezekiel 34:11 For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I Myself will search for My flock and seek them out.
Matthew 18:12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?
Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
1 Peter 2:25 For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Psalms 119:176 I have strayed like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I have not forgotten Your commandments.
Ezekiel 34:31 ‘You are My flock, the sheep of My pasture, My people, and I am your God,’ declares the Lord GOD.”
Isaiah 53:6 We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.
Jeremiah 50:6 My people are lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, causing them to roam the mountains. They have wandered from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.
Matthew 12:11 He replied, “If one of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out?