Matthew 18

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

1At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

Note"The kingdom of heaven" is Matthew's usual phrase for what the other Gospels call the kingdom of God. "Heaven" here stands in for the divine name, which many Jews avoided saying directly. The disciples' question is about rank: who stands highest in it.

2Jesus called a little child over and stood the child in the middle of the group.

2And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,

3He said, "I tell you the truth: unless you turn around and change, and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

3And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

NoteTwo things in the King James can mislead. "Verily I say unto you" translates "Amen, I say to you," an unusual formula that puts weight on what follows, not a mild filler. And "converted" in 1611 English means simply turned around, changed direction; it does not mean religious conversion in the modern sense of switching faiths.

4"So whoever makes himself small and low, like this little child, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

4Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

5"And whoever welcomes one little child like this because of me is welcoming me."

5And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

Note"In my name" means on the basis of who I am, treating the child as someone who belongs to me. Welcoming a person "in the name of" another was ordinary language for receiving them as that person's representative.

6"But if anyone causes one of these little ones who trust me to fall into sin, it would be better for that person to have a heavy millstone tied around his neck and to be drowned in the deep sea."

6But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Note"Offend" has shifted since 1611. The Greek word means to trip someone up, to make them fall, not to insult or upset them. The millstone here is the large kind turned by a donkey, not the small hand mill a woman worked at home; it is an unliftable weight. Death by drowning with a weight attached was a form of execution the Romans used and Jews regarded with horror.

7"How terrible for the world, because of the things that trip people into sin. Such things are bound to come, but how terrible for the person who brings them."

7Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

Note"Offences" again means trip hazards: the Greek noun originally named the bait stick of a trap. "It must needs be that offences come" means such things are bound to happen, not that any particular person is compelled to cause them. "Woe unto" is closer to a cry of grief over someone than a curse laid on them.

8"So if your hand or your foot makes you sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better to enter life crippled or missing a limb than to keep both hands and both feet and be thrown into the fire that never ends."

8Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.

Note"Halt" is old English for lame, and "maimed" means missing a limb. "Everlasting fire" translates a phrase meaning fire belonging to the coming age.

9"And if your eye makes you sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better to enter life with one eye than to keep both eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell."

9And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

Note"Hell fire" translates "the Gehenna of fire." Gehenna is the Valley of Hinnom, a ravine just outside Jerusalem with a grim history in the Hebrew scriptures, and by this period its name was used for the place of final punishment. It is a different word from the one usually translated as the realm of the dead.

10"Be careful that you do not look down on even one of these little ones. I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my Father in heaven."

10Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

NoteTo "behold the face" of a king is court language: it means having the right to stand in his presence and speak to him directly, a privilege only the highest officials held. The saying assumes the common ancient Jewish idea that individuals or groups have angels assigned to them.

11"For the Son of Man came to save what was lost."

11For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.

ManuscriptsMost modern translations leave this verse out. It is in the Greek text the King James translators worked from, but not in the older manuscripts found since, so scholars generally take it as a copyist’s addition rather than part of the original.

NoteThis verse is missing from the oldest surviving manuscripts of Matthew and is widely thought to have been copied in later from Luke 19:10. Many modern translations omit it or move it to a footnote, which is why the numbering can seem to skip.

12"What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders off, won't he leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go looking for the one that wandered off?"

12How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?

Note"The mountains" means the open hill country where flocks grazed, not high peaks. Leaving ninety-nine animals unattended there was a real risk, which is the point of the question.

13"And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that never wandered off."

13And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.

14"In the same way, your Father in heaven does not want even one of these little ones to be lost."

14Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

15"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him what he did wrong, just the two of you alone. If he listens to you, you have won your brother back."

15Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

Note"Brother" here means a fellow member of the community, not a blood relative. "Trespass" means to wrong or to sin against. Some early manuscripts lack the words "against thee," which would widen the saying from a personal grievance to any wrongdoing.

16"But if he will not listen to you, take one or two others along with you, so that every charge can be settled by the word of two or three witnesses."

16But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

NoteThis is a direct quotation of the law in Deuteronomy 19:15, which required two or three witnesses before a charge could stand in court. "Every word" translates a term that means every matter or every charge, and "established" is a legal word meaning confirmed as proven.

17"If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, the gathered group of believers. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him the way you would treat an outsider or a tax collector."

17And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

Note"The church" translates a word that simply means an assembly or a called-together gathering; it carried no sense of a building or an institution yet. "An heathen man" is a Gentile, someone outside the covenant community. Tax collectors, the King James "publican," were Jews who collected revenue for Rome and were treated as traitors and cheats, since they made their living by charging above the required amount.

18"I tell you the truth: whatever you tie up on earth will be tied up in heaven, and whatever you set loose on earth will be set loose in heaven."

18Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Note"Bind" and "loose" were standard terms among Jewish teachers for two things: declaring a practice forbidden or permitted, and putting a person out of the community or receiving them back. The grammar of the Greek is debated and can also be read as "will have been bound in heaven," which would make the earthly decision a ratification of a heavenly one rather than the trigger for it.

19"Again I tell you, if two of you here on earth agree about anything you ask for, my Father in heaven will do it for you."

19Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

20"For where two or three come together in my name, I am there among them."

20For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Note"Two or three" picks up the number of witnesses from verse 16, tying this promise back to the procedure just described. Rabbis of the period said something similar about two who sit together over the law: God's presence rests among them.

21Then Peter came to Jesus and said, "Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"

21Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

NoteSeven is the standard biblical number for completeness. Peter is not picking a random figure; he is offering what would have sounded like a generous outer limit.

22Jesus said to him, "I do not say seven times, but seventy times seven."

22Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

NoteThe Greek phrase is ambiguous and can mean either seventy-seven times or seventy times seven, and translators still divide over it. Either way it deliberately echoes Genesis 4:24, where Lamech boasts that if Cain is avenged seven times, he will be avenged seventy-sevenfold. The boast of unlimited revenge is turned into unlimited forgiveness.

23"That is why the kingdom of heaven is like a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants."

23Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.

NoteThe word translated "servants" covers slaves and also high officials of a king's household, and the sums involved show these are senior administrators, perhaps regional governors handling tax revenue, not domestic help. "Take account" means to audit the books and settle balances.

24"As he began to settle up, a man was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents."

24And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.

NoteA talent was a unit of weight used for money, worth roughly six thousand denarii, and a denarius was a day's pay for a laborer. One talent was therefore something like twenty years of wages. Ten thousand was the largest number Greek had a single word for, so "ten thousand talents" is the biggest sum the language could easily name: an amount no individual could owe or repay. For scale, the annual tax income of an entire province in this period ran to a few hundred talents.

25"The man had no way to pay, so his master ordered that he be sold, along with his wife and his children and everything he owned, so the debt could be paid."

25But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

NoteSelling a defaulting debtor and his household into slavery was a recognized practice in the ancient world, though Jewish law restricted it. Since the debt is beyond any possible price, the sale is a punishment more than a recovery of the money.

26"So the servant fell down and bowed low before him and said, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything.'"

26The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

Note"Worshipped him" translates a word meaning to fall to the ground before a superior. In the ancient Near East this was the normal gesture before a king or a great man and did not by itself imply that the person was divine.

27"The master felt deep pity for that servant, so he let him go and canceled the whole debt."

27Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

28"But that same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred pence. He grabbed him and choked him and said, 'Pay me what you owe!'"

28But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.

Note"An hundred pence" is a hundred denarii, about a hundred days' wages for a laborer: a real debt, roughly four months of work, but something like six hundred thousand times smaller than the one just canceled. Seizing a debtor by the throat was a recognized way of hauling him toward court under Roman practice.

29"His fellow servant fell down and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything.'"

29And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

30"But he refused. He went and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt."

30And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.

NoteImprisonment for debt was meant as pressure on the debtor's family and friends to produce the money, since a man in prison could earn nothing himself.

31"When the other servants saw what had happened, they were very upset. They went and told their master everything that had been done."

31So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.

32"Then his master called him in and said, 'You wicked servant! I canceled that whole debt of yours because you begged me.'"

32Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:

33"'Shouldn't you have had pity on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'"

33Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

34"His master was angry and handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he paid back everything he owed."

34And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

Note"Tormentors" means jailers who used torture, which was legally applied to debtors to force them to reveal hidden assets or to make relatives pay. "Till he should pay all that was due" is effectively without end, given the size of the sum named in verse 24.

35"That is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."

35So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.