Chapter 18

The disciples came to Jesus at this time and said, Tell us, who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

Whereupon Jesus called to his side a little child, to whom he gave a place in the midst of them,

and said, Believe me, unless you become like little children again, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

He is greatest in the kingdom of heaven who will abase himself like this little child.

He who gives welcome to such a child as this in my name, gives welcome to me.

And if anyone hurts the conscience of one of these little ones, that believe in me, he had better have been drowned in the depths of the sea, with a mill-stone hung about his neck.

Woe to the world, for the hurt done to consciences! It must needs be that such hurt should come, but woe to the man through whom it comes!

If thy hand or thy foot is an occasion of falling to thee, cut it off and cast it away from thee; better for thee to enter into life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet when thou art cast into eternal fire.

And if thy eye is an occasion of falling to thee, pluck it out and cast it away from thee; better for thee to enter into life with one eye, than to have two eyes when thou art cast into the fires of hell.

See to it that you do not treat one of these little ones with contempt; I tell you, they have angels of their own in heaven, that behold the face of my heavenly Father continually.

The Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.

Tell me this, if a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave those ninety-nine others on the mountain-side, and go out to look for the one that is straying?

And if, by good fortune, he finds it, he rejoices more, believe me, over that one, than over the ninety-nine which never strayed from him.

So too it is not your heavenly Father’s pleasure that one of these little ones should be lost.

If thy brother does thee wrong,2 go at once and tax him with it, as a private matter between thee and him; and so, if he will listen to thee, thou hast won thy brother.

If he will not listen to thee, take with thee one or two more, that the whole matter may be certified by the voice of two or three witnesses.

If he will not listen to them, then speak of it to the church; and if he will not even listen to the church, then count him all one with the heathen and the publican.

I promise you, all that you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and all that you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

And moreover I tell you, that if two of you agree over any request that you make on earth, it will be granted them by my Father who is in heaven.

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

Then Peter came to him and asked, Lord, how often must I see my brother do me wrong, and still forgive him; as much as seven times?

Jesus said to him, I tell thee to forgive, not seven wrongs, but seventy times seven.

Here is an image of the kingdom of heaven; there was a king who resolved to enter into a reckoning with his servants,

and had scarcely begun the reckoning, when one was brought before him who was ten thousand talents in his debt.

He had no means of making payment; whereupon his master gave orders that he should be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and so the debt should be paid.

With that the servant fell at his feet and said, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee in full.

And his master, moved with pity for him, let the servant go and discharged him of his debt.

So the servant went out, and met with a fellow servant of his, who owed him a hundred pieces of silver; whereupon he caught hold of him and took him by the throat, and said, Pay me all thou owest me.

His fellow servant went down on his knees in entreaty; Have patience with me, he said, and I will pay thee in full.

But the other refused; he went away and committed him to prison for such time as the debt was unpaid.

The rest of the servants were full of indignation when they saw this done, and went in to tell their master what had happened.

And so he was summoned by his master, who said to him, I remitted all that debt of thine, thou wicked servant, at thy entreaty;

was it not thy duty to have mercy on thy fellow servant, as I had mercy on thee?

And his master, in anger, gave him over to be tortured until the debt was paid.

It is thus that my heavenly Father will deal with you, if brother does not forgive brother with all his heart.