Matthew 18
18
1 #
Mk 9.33-37; Lk 9.46-48. At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, 3#Mk 10.15; Lk 18.17; 1 Pet 2.2. and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5 #
Mt 10.40; Lk 10.16; Jn 13.20. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; 6#Mk 9.42-48; Lk 17.1-2. but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,#18.6 Greek causes … to stumble it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
7“Woe to the world for temptations to sin!#18.7 Greek stumbling blocks For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the man by whom the temptation comes! 8#Mt 5.29-30; 17.27. And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin,#18.8 Greek causes … to stumble cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9And if your eye causes you to sin,#18.9 Greek causes … to stumble pluck it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell#18.9 Greek Gehenna of fire.
10 #
Acts 12.11. “See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven. 11#18.11 Other ancient authorities add verse 11, For the Son of man came to save the lost #Lk 19.10. 12#Lk 15.3-7. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14So it is not the will of my#18.14 Other ancient authorities read your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
15 #
Lk 17.3; 1 Cor 6.1-6; Gal 6.1; Jas 5.19-20; Lev 19.17; Deut 19.15. “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18#Mt 16.19; Jn 20.23. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19#Mt 7.7; 21.22; Jas 1.5-7; 1 Jn 5.14; Jn 14.13. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
21 #
Lk 17.4; Gen 4.24. Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.#18.22 Or seventy-seven times
23 #
Mt 25.19. “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24When he began the reckoning, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents;#18.24 This talent was more than fifteen years' wages of a laborer 25#Lk 7.42. and as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26#Mt 8.2. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27And out of pity for him the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28But that same servant, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii;#18.28 The denarius was a day's wage for a laborer and seizing him by the throat he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29So his fellow servant fell down and besought him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30He refused and went and put him in prison till he should pay the debt. 31When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. 32Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me; 33and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34And in anger his lord delivered him to the jailers,#18.34 Greek torturers till he should pay all his debt. 35#Mt 6.14. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Currently Selected:
Matthew 18: RSV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America
Matthew 18
18
(We have not yet translated 18:1-14. You can read those stories and messages in Mark 9:34-47; Luke 15:3-7; 17:1-2.)
What if a Christian does something wrong to you?
15Jesus told his followers, “If another one of my followers does something wrong to you, then you have to go to them and talk about it. Just the 2 of you can talk about it together, while you are alone. If they listen to you, and if they agree with you, then you can call them your friend again.#Luke 17:3
16But if they don’t want to listen to you, then take one or 2 other people with you, and go to that person. These other people will hear you talk about the wrong things that person did, and they will hear what that person says, and they will find out what is true.#Deuteronomy 19:15 17If that person will not listen to all of you, then go to the church, and tell the people in the church what happened. Let them sort it out and talk to that person. If that person doesn’t want to listen to them, then you can treat them like somebody that doesn’t follow me. They are like somebody that doesn’t know God, or like somebody that doesn’t do what God says.”
18Then Jesus told his followers, “Listen. You are the people that will know what God wants. If you all agree that something here on this earth is wrong, it will be something that God in heaven already said is wrong. And if you all agree that something here on this earth is all right, it will be something that God in heaven already said is all right.#Matthew 16:19; John 20:23
19I’m telling you this again. If you agree together about something, even if it is only 2 of you, and then you ask my father in heaven to do that thing, then he will do it for you. 20You see, if you get together to respect me, I will be right there with you, even if it is only 2 or 3 of you at that time.”
The story about the work-man that was hard on another man
21Then Peter went up to Jesus and said, “Teacher, if somebody is always doing wrong things to me, how many times do I have to forget it and not do payback to that person? If I forget it 7 times, is that enough? Then if they do another wrong thing, I can do payback, right?”
22Jesus said, “No, not 7 times, but I say lots of times, like 77 times.”#Luke 17:3-4; Genesis 4:24
23-24Then Jesus told them a story. He said, “I will tell you a picture story to show you what it’s like in God’s family. There was a big boss that loaned some money to his workers. After a while he wanted them to give it back. So he started to check up on them, and he got his soldiers to bring those workers to him. They brought a work-man that borrowed a real lot of money, like millions of dollars, and the boss said, ‘Give me that money now.’
25The work-man said, ‘No, not yet. I haven’t got any money right now.’ The big boss was angry. He wanted to get some money back, so he told his soldiers, ‘Grab this man, and his wife, and his kids, and all his things, and sell them to another man. He will make them work for no pay.’
26Then the work-man got down on his knees in front of the big boss and said to him, ‘Please, please give me more time, then I will give you back all your money.’
27Then the big boss felt sorry for his work-man, and he changed his mind, and he said, ‘All right, you don’t have to give that money back to me. I’ll forget it. You can go free now.’
28But after that, his work-man went away, and he met another man. Before this time, that other man borrowed a little bit of money from the work-man, just 100 dollars. So the work-man grabbed that other man’s neck and said, ‘Give me back that money right now. It’s my money.’
29That other man went down on his knees and said, ‘Please, please give me more time. Then I will give you back your money.’
30But the work-man said, ‘No way. I will not forget what you owe me.’ And he put that man in jail, and he told the boss over the jail to keep him there until he gives back all of that money.
31Some of the other workers saw what happened, and they were not happy about it. So they went to the big boss and told him all about it. 32Then the big boss got the work-man to come in, and said to him, ‘You are really bad. You asked me to forget about all my money that you borrowed. It was millions of dollars. And I was good to you. I said that you didn’t have to give it back to me. 33So now you have to feel sorry for that other man and be good to him, just like I felt sorry for you.’ 34The big boss was really angry, and he told the soldiers to grab that work-man, to beat him up, and to put him in jail. He will stay there until he can give all that money back to the big boss.”
35Then Jesus said, “It’s like that with you too. You have to be good to all my other followers. If they do something bad to you, don’t do payback to them. Just forget it. Then, in the same way, my father in heaven will not do payback to you.”
(We have not yet translated chapter 19. You can read those stories and messages in Mark 10:1-31.)
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© 2021, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. All rights reserved.