Matthew 18

¹At that time the disciples approached Jesus and asked, "Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of the heavens?"

²Jesus called a child over, stood the child in the middle of them, ³and said, "Truly I tell you, unless you turn around and become like children, you will certainly never enter the kingdom of the heavens. ⁴Therefore, whoever lowers their status to that of this child—this person is the greatest in the kingdom of the heavens. ⁵And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

⁶But whoever trips up one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for him to have a massive millstone—the kind turned by a donkey—hung around his neck and to be drowned in the open sea. ⁷Woe to the world because of the things that trip people up! For it is inevitable that such traps come, but woe to the person through whom the trap comes!

⁸If your hand or your foot trips you up, cut it off and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the fire of the ages. ⁹And if your eye trips you up, gouge it out and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the Gehenna of fire.

¹⁰See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that in the heavens their angels always see the face of my Father who is in the heavens. ¹²What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders off, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go look for the one that is wandering? ¹³And if he happens to find it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that did not wander off. ¹⁴In the same way, it is not the will of your Father in the heavens that even one of these little ones should be lost.

¹⁵If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother. ¹⁶But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' ¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly. And if he refuses to listen even to the assembly, let him be to you as a foreigner or a tax collector.

¹⁸Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven. ¹⁹Again, truly I tell you, if two of you on earth agree about any matter they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in the heavens. ²⁰For where two or three are gathered into my name, I am there in the midst of them."

²¹Then Peter approached him and asked, "Lord, how many times should my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"

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

²³Because of this, the kingdom of the heavens is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴As he began to settle them, a man was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. ²⁵Since he did not have the means to pay it back, the master ordered that he be sold, along with his wife and children and everything he owned, to repay the debt. ²⁶So the servant fell down and did obeisance to him, saying, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay everything back to you.' ²⁷Moved with deep compassion, the master of that servant released him and canceled the loan.

²⁸But that same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and started choking him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe!' ²⁹So his fellow servant fell down and kept begging him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' ³⁰But he refused. Instead, he went and threw him into prison until he should pay back what was owed.

³¹When his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply distressed, and they went and explained the whole matter to their master. ³²Then his master called him in and said, 'You wicked servant! I canceled that whole debt for you because you begged me. ³³Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?' ³⁴And in a fit of anger, his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back everything he owed.

³⁵This is how my heavenly Father will also treat you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart."