Matthew 18 (New American Standard)

Rank in the Kingdom

1 ¹At that ^atime the disciples came to Jesus and said, "²Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven ?" 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him ^bbefore them, 3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you ^care converted and ³become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 "And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; 6 but ⁴whoever ⁵causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it ^dwould be better for him to have a ^eheavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Stumbling Blocks

7 "Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks ! For ⁶it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come ; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes ! 8 "⁷If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than ^fto have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. 9 "⁸If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than ^gto have two eyes and be cast into the ^h9fiery hell. 10 "See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that ¹⁰their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven. 11 ["ⁱ¹¹For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.]

Ninety-nine Plus One

12 "What do you think ? ¹²If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying ? 13 "If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. 14 "So it is not the will ^jof your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

Discipline and Prayer

15 "¹³If your brother sins^k, go and ^lshow him his fault ^min private ; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 "But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that ¹⁴BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY ⁿFACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. 17 "If he refuses to listen to them, ¹⁵tell it to the church ; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, ¹⁶let him be to you as ^oa Gentile and ^pa tax collector. 18 "Truly I say to you, ¹⁷whatever you ^qbind on earth ^rshall have been bound in heaven ; and whatever you ^sloose on earth ^tshall have been loosed in heaven. 19 "Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, ¹⁸it shall be done for them ^uby My Father who is in heaven. 20 "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, ¹⁹I am there in their midst."

Forgiveness

21 Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, ²⁰how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to ²¹seven times ?" 22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to ²²seventy times seven. 23 "For this reason ²³the kingdom of heaven ^vmay be compared to a king who wished to ²⁴settle accounts with his slaves. 24 "When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ^wten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 "But since he ^x25did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him ²⁶to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. 26 "So the slave fell to the ground and ²⁷prostrated himself before him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.' 27 "And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and ²⁸forgave him the ^ydebt. 28 "But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred ^zdenarii ; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe.' 29 "So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you.' 30 "But he was unwilling ^aaand went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. 31 "So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. 32 "Then summoning him, his lord said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 '²⁹Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?' 34 "And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. 35 "³⁰My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from ^bbyour heart."