Luke 15:3 (DBY)

Passage

And he spoke to them this parable, saying,

Nearby Context

Luke 15:1 And all the tax-gatherers and the sinners were coming near to him to hear him;

Luke 15:2 and the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, This [man] receives sinners and eats with them.

Luke 15:3 And he spoke to them this parable, saying,

Luke 15:4 What man of you having a hundred sheep, and having lost one of them, does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

Luke 15:5 and having found it, he lays it upon his own shoulders, rejoicing;

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "spoke", "parable", and "saying". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "spoke" and "parable", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "and the Pharisees and the scribes murmured..." into verse 4's "What man of you having a hundred...", so "spoke" and "parable" belong inside that flow. In Luke context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "spoke" and "parable" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.