Matthew 18:15-35

If Your Brother Sins Against You

15 ¹"If your brother sins against you, ²go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have ³gained your brother.

16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established ⁴by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

17 If he refuses to listen to them, ⁵tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, ⁶let him be to you as ⁷a Gentile and ⁸a tax collector.

18 Truly, I say to you, ⁹whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed^[a] in heaven.

19 Again I say to you, if two of you ¹⁰agree on earth about anything they ask, ¹¹it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

20 For where two or three are ¹²gathered in my name, ¹³there am I among them."

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

21 Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often ¹⁴will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? ¹⁵As many as seven times?"

22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.^[b]

23 "Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished ¹⁶to settle accounts with his servants.^[c]

24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ¹⁷ten thousand ¹⁸talents.^[d]

25 ¹⁹And since he could not pay, his master ordered him ²⁰to be sold, with his wife and ²¹children and all that he had, and payment to be made.

26 So the servant^[e]22fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.'

27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and ²³forgave him the debt.

28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred ²⁴denarii,^[f] and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, 'Pay what you owe.'

29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.'

30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.

31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.

32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.

33 ²⁵And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?'

34 ²⁶And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers,^[g]27until he should pay all his debt.

35 ²⁸So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother ²⁹from your heart."

Cross References

• 1. Luke 17:3
• 2. 2 Thessalonians 3:15; [Titus 3:10; James 5:19]; See Leviticus 19:17
• 3. 1 Corinthians 9:19-22; 1 Peter 3:1
• 4. Deuteronomy 19:15; 2 Corinthians 13:1; [Numbers 35:30; John 8:17; 1 Timothy 5:19; Hebrews 10:28]
• 5. [1 Corinthians 5:4, 5; 1 Corinthians 6:1-6]
• 6. [Romans 16:17; 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14; 2 John 10]
• 7. Matthew 5:46, 47
• 8. Matthew 5:46, 47
• 9. [Matthew 16:19; John 20:23]
• 10. [Acts 12:5, 12; Philemon 22]
• 11. See Matthew 7:7
• 12. [Acts 4:30, 31; 1 Corinthians 5:4]
• 13. [Matthew 28:20; John 12:26; John 20:20, 26]
• 14. ver. 15
• 15. Luke 17:3, 4; [Colossians 3:13]
• 16. Matthew 25:19
• 17. Esther 3:9
• 18. Matthew 25:15
• 19. [Luke 7:42]
• 20. Exodus 21:2; Leviticus 25:39
• 21. 2 Kings 4:1; Nehemiah 5:5
• 22. Acts 10:25; See Matthew 8:2
• 23. [See ver. 25 above]
• 24. Matthew 20:2; Matthew 22:19; Mark 6:37; Mark 14:5; Luke 7:41; Luke 10:35; John 6:7
• 25. [Matthew 6:12; Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13; 1 John 4:11]
• 26. See James 2:13
• 27. ver. 30; [Matthew 5:25, 26]
• 28. Matthew 6:15; [Proverbs 21:13]
• 29. 1 Peter 1:22; [Romans 6:17]

Footnotes

• [a]. Or shall have been bound... shall have been loosed
• [b]. Or seventy-seven times
• [c]. Greek bondservants; also verses 28, 31
• [d]. A talent was a monetary unit worth about twenty years' wages for a laborer
• [e]. Greek bondservant; also verses 27, 28, 29, 32, 33
• [f]. A denarius was a day's wage for a laborer
• [g]. Greek torturers