Matthew

¹At that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”

²Jesus called a little child to himself and set him in their midst. ³He then said, “Amen, I tell you that unless you change and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. ⁴But whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. ⁵Whoever receives such a little child in my Name receives me, ⁶but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for such a person to have a huge millstone hung around the neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea!

⁷Woe to the world because of occasions of stumbling! Such occasions are bound to come, but woe to the one through whom the occasion does come! ⁸If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut them off and throw them away from you! It is better for you to enter into life crippled or maimed rather than to have two hands or two feet and yet be cast into eternal fire. ⁹If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than to be cast into the Gehenna²⁴⁴ of fire having two eyes. ¹⁰Do not despise any of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven, their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

¹¹<For the Son of Man has come to save the lost.>²⁴⁵

The parable of the lost sheep

¹²What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine to go into the mountains and look for the one that has gone astray? ¹³Amen, I tell you: if he finds it, he rejoices over this one more than over the ninety-nine which did not go astray. ¹⁴Likewise, it is not the will²⁴⁶ of your Father who is in heaven that any of these little ones should perish.

Dealing with a brother who has sinned—The authority of the Church

¹⁵If your brother sins against you,²⁴⁷ go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother! ¹⁶But if he does not listen, take one or two more with you, so that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.^{248 17}If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the Church. If he refuses to hear the Church also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector. ¹⁸Amen, I tell you²⁴⁹ that whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven. ¹⁹Again, amen,²⁵⁰ I tell you that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. ²⁰Indeed, where two or three are gathered together in my Name, there I am among them.”²⁵¹

The parable of the unforgiving servant

²¹Then Peter came forward and asked Jesus,²⁵² “Lord, how often shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Until seven times?”

²²Jesus said to him, “I do not tell you until seven times, but seventy times seven! ²³Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who wanted to settle his accounts with his slaves. ²⁴When he began the settlement, someone was brought in who owed him ten thousand talents.^{253 25}But because the slave²⁵⁴ could not pay, his lord gave orders that he be sold, with his wife, children, and all that he had, so that payment may be made. ²⁶At this, the slave fell down on his knees before him, saying: ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will repay you all!’ ²⁷The lord of that slave, moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

²⁸However, that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him one hundred denarii.²⁵⁵ He grabbed him and took him by the throat, saying: ‘Pay me what you owe!’

²⁹And so, his fellow slave fell down at his feet and begged him, saying: ‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you!’ ³⁰But the first man would not [have compassion] but went off and had him cast into prison, until he should pay back what was due. ³¹When his [other] fellow slaves saw what had been done, they were extremely distressed and came to their lord to report all that had taken place. ³²Then his lord summoned the [first] slave and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. ³³Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴His lord was angry and delivered him to the jailers²⁵⁶ until he would pay all that was due. ³⁵This is how my heavenly Father will also treat you if you do not each forgive each other their trespasses from your hearts.”

About marriage and divorce—Eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom

244. Or “hell”
245. CT omits this verse
246. Or “desire”
247. A few manuscripts omit “against you” including (א, B, 0281, Origen)
248. Deuteronomy 19:15
249. Plural “you” in verses 18-19
250. TR omits “amen”
251. Or “in their midst”
252. Greek “him”
253. Ten thousand talents represents an extremely large sum of money, equivalent to about 60,000,000 denarii, where one denarius was typical of one day’s wages for agricultural labor.
254. Greek “he”
255. 100 denarii was about one sixtieth of a talent.
256. Or “tormentors”