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Matthew 18
1599 Geneva Bible
Matthew 18
1599 Geneva Bible
18 1 The greatest in the kingdom of God. 5 To receive a little child. 6 To give offence. 7 Offences. 9 The pulling out of the eye. 10 The Angels. 11 The lost sheep. 15 The telling of one his fault. 17 Excommunication. 21 We must always pardon the brother that repenteth. 23 The parable of the king that taketh an account of his servants.
1 The (A)same time the disciples came unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
2 [a]And Jesus called a [b]little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 And said, Verily I say unto you, except ye be (B)[c]converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5 And whosoever shall receive one such little child in my Name, receiveth me.
6 (C)[d]But whosoever 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.
7 [e]Woe be unto the world because of offences, for it must needs be that [f]offences shall come, but woe be to that man by whom the offence cometh.
8 (D)Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot cause thee to [g]offend, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life, halt, or maimed, than having two hands, or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire.
9 And if thine eye cause thee to offend, pluck it out and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
10 [h]See that ye despise not one of these little ones: for I say unto you, that in heaven their (E)Angels always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.
11 For (F)the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
12 How think ye? (G)If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave ninety and nine, and go into the mountains, and seek that which is gone astray?
13 And 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 So is it not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
15 ¶ (H)[i]Moreover, if thy brother trespass against [j]thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he hear thee, thou hast won thy brother.
16 But if he hear thee not, take yet with thee one or two, that by the (I)[k]mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be [l]confirmed.
17 [m]And if he [n]refuse to hear them, tell it unto the [o]Church: and if he refuse to hear the Church also, let him be unto thee as an [p]heathen man, and a Publican.
18 Verily I say unto you, (J)Whatsoever ye bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven: and (K)whatsoever ye loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven.
19 Again, verily I say unto you, that if two of you shall [q]agree in earth upon anything, whatsoever they shall desire, it shall be given them of my Father which is in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them.
21 [r]Then came Peter to him, and said, Master, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I shall forgive him? (L)unto seven times?
22 Jesus said unto him, I say not to thee, Unto seven times, but, Unto seventy times seven times.
23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain King, which would take an account of his servants.
24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which ought him [s]ten thousand talents.
25 And because he had nothing to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and his children, and all that he had, and the debt to be paid.
26 The servant therefore fell down, and [t]worshipped him, saying, Lord, [u]refrain thine anger toward me, and I will pay thee all.
27 Then that servant’s lord had compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
28 But when the servant was departed, he found one of his fellow servants which ought him an hundred pence, and he laid hands on him, and throttled him, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
29 Then his fellow servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Refrain thine anger toward me, and I will pay thee all.
30 Yet he would not, but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
31 And when his other fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came, and declared unto their lord all that was done.
32 Then his lord called him unto him, and said to him, O evil servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou prayedst me.
33 Oughtest not thou also to have had pity on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee?
34 So his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due to him.
35 So likewise shall mine heavenly Father do unto you, except ye forgive from your hearts, each one to his brother their trespasses.
Footnotes
- Matthew 18:2 Humbleness of mind is the right way to preeminence.
- Matthew 18:2 A child in years.
- Matthew 18:3 A kind of speech taken from the Hebrews, and it is as much as, repent.
- Matthew 18:6 We ought to have great respect to our brethren be they never so base: and he that doeth otherwise, shall be sharply punished.
- Matthew 18:7 A good man cannot but go through the midst of offences, yet he must cut off all occasion of offences.
- Matthew 18:7 Lets and hindrances which stop the course of good works. The Greek word importeth thus much, things which we stumble at.
- Matthew 18:8 See Matt. 5:29.
- Matthew 18:10 The weaker that a man is, the greater care we ought to have of his salvation, as God teacheth us by his own example.
- Matthew 18:15 We must labor for concord, not to revenge injuries.
- Matthew 18:15 If his offence be such, that thou only knowest thy brother’s offence.
- Matthew 18:16 That is, by the word and witness the mouth is sometime taken for the word or speech, Num. 3:16, and also for a still witness, to wit, when the matter speaketh of itself, as in Matt. 21:16.
- Matthew 18:16 Sure and certain.
- Matthew 18:17 He that contemneth the judgment of the Church, contemneth God.
- Matthew 18:17 Word for word, do not vouchsafe to hear, or make as though he did not hear.
- Matthew 18:17 He speaketh not of any kind of policy, but of an Ecclesiastical assembly, for he speaketh afterward of the power of loosing and binding, which belonged to the Church, and he hath regard to the order used in those days, at what time the Elders had the judgment of Church matters in their hands, John 9:22 and 12:42 and 16:2, and used casting out of the Synagogue for a punishment, as we do now excommunication.
- Matthew 18:17 Profane, and void of religion: such men, the Jews called Gentiles: whose company they shunned as they did the Publicans.
- Matthew 18:19 This word is translated from the body to the mind, for it belongeth properly to song.
- Matthew 18:21 They shall find God severe and not to be pleased, which do not forgive their brethren, although they have been diversly and grievously injured by them.
- Matthew 18:24 Here is set down a very great sum of threescore hundred thousand crowns, and a small sum of ten crowns, that the difference may be the greater, for there is no proportion between them.
- Matthew 18:26 This was a civil reverence which was very usual in the East.
- Matthew 18:26 Yield not too much to thine anger against me: so is God called in the Scripture, slow to anger, that is to say, gentle and one that refraineth the storming of his mind, Ps. 86:5, patient and of great mercy.
Matthew 18
New International Version
Matthew 18
New International Version
The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven(A)
18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children,(B) you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.(C) 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.(D) 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.(E)
Causing to Stumble
6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.(F) 7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!(G) 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble,(H) cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble,(I) gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.(J)
The Parable of the Wandering Sheep(K)
10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels(L) in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. [11] [a]
12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.
Dealing With Sin in the Church
15 “If your brother or sister[b] sins,[c] go and point out their fault,(M) just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’[d](N) 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church;(O) and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.(P)
18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be[e] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[f] loosed in heaven.(Q)
19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them(R) by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”(S)
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?(T) Up to seven times?”(U)
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[g](V)
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like(W) a king who wanted to settle accounts(X) with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[h] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay,(Y) the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold(Z) to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him.(AA) ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[i] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”(AB)
Footnotes
- Matthew 18:11 Some manuscripts include here the words of Luke 19:10.
- Matthew 18:15 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a fellow disciple, whether man or woman; also in verses 21 and 35.
- Matthew 18:15 Some manuscripts sins against you
- Matthew 18:16 Deut. 19:15
- Matthew 18:18 Or will have been
- Matthew 18:18 Or will have been
- Matthew 18:22 Or seventy times seven
- Matthew 18:24 Greek ten thousand talents; a talent was worth about 20 years of a day laborer’s wages.
- Matthew 18:28 Greek a hundred denarii; a denarius was the usual daily wage of a day laborer (see 20:2).
1599 Geneva Bible (GNV) 
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New International Version (NIV) 
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