Matthew 18

18 ¹At that time the disciples came to Jesus, asking, "Who, then, is greatest in the kingdom of our Father?"

²Calling a little child to him, he placed the child among them,

³and said, "I tell you truly: unless you turn and become like little children, you'll never enter our Father's kingdom. ⁴Whoever therefore humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of our Father. ⁵And whoever welcomes one such little child in my name welcomes me."

Causing the Little Ones to Stumble

⁶"But whoever trips up one of these little ones who believe in me—better to hang a heavy millstone on his neck and drown him in the depths of the sea."

⁷"Disaster for the world because of things that cause stumbling! They must come, but disaster for whoever brings them. ⁸If your hand or foot makes you stumble, cut it off, throw it away. Better to enter life crippled or lame than keep both hands or both feet and be thrown into the eternal fire." ⁹If your eye trips you up, tear it out and throw it away. Better to enter life with one eye than to keep both and be thrown into hell's fire.

The Father Searches for the One Lost Sheep

¹⁰"See that you don't look down on one of these little ones. I tell you, their angels in heaven always see my Father's face in heaven." ^a a v10 The earliest manuscripts do not have a verse 11 here; later copies add: "For the Son of Man came to save the lost."

¹²"What do you think? If a man has one hundred sheep and one wanders off, won't he leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go look for the one that wandered? ¹³If he finds it, I assure you: he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never strayed. ¹⁴So it is not your Father in heaven's will that one of these little ones perish.'

When a Brother Sins Against You

¹⁵"If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault—you and he alone. If he listens, you've won your brother over. ¹⁶But if he won't listen, bring one or two more with you, so every matter stands by the mouth of two or three witnesses. ¹⁷If he won't listen to them, tell the church. If he won't listen to the church either, treat him like an outsider or a tax collector. ¹⁸Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth, loosed in heaven. ¹⁹Again, truly I tell you: if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask, my Father in heaven will do it for them. ²⁰For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am among them."

The Father's Forgiveness and Ours

²¹Then Peter came to Jesus: "Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?"

²²Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. ²³So the kingdom of our Father is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴When he began settling accounts, a man owing a fortune was brought to him. ²⁵Since he could not pay, his master ordered him and his wife, children, and all he had sold, and the debt repaid."

²⁶So the servant knelt before him, pleading, "Be patient with me, and I will repay everything. ²⁷The master of that servant, his heart moved with compassion, released him and forgave him the debt."

²⁸"That servant then went out, found a fellow servant who owed him one hundred days' wages, grabbed him, and began choking him: 'Pay back what you owe me!'"

²⁹So his fellow servant knelt and pleaded with him, "Be patient with me; I'll repay you. ³⁰But he refused, went and threw him into prison until he paid the debt. ³¹Seeing what had happened, his fellow servants were deeply grieved, went, and told their master all that had happened."

³²Then the master summoned him. "Wicked servant," he said, "I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. ³³Shouldn't you also have shown your fellow servant mercy, as I showed you mercy? ³⁴Furious, his master handed him to the torturers until he repaid the whole debt. ³⁵My heavenly Father will do the same to you, unless each forgives his brother from the heart."