Emphasis Preaching Journal

The Ninety and Nine is one of the greatest of Christian hymns based on our passage from Luke 15:

There were ninety and nine that safely lay
In the shelter of the fold,
But one was out on the hills away,
Far off from the gates of gold;
Away on the mountains wild and bare,
A way from the tender Shepherd's care,
Away from the tender Shepherd's care.

"Lord, thou hast here thy ninety and nine;
Are they not enough for thee?"
But the Shepherd made answer: "This of mine
Has wandered away from me;