Matthew 18:8-18

8 "1If 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 to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire.
9 "2If 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 to have two eyes and be cast into the 3fiery hell.
10 "See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that 4their angels in heaven continually * see the face of My Father who is in heaven.
11 [ "5For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.]

Ninety-nine Plus One

12 "What do you think? 6If 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 of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

Discipline and Prayer

15 "7If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in 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 8BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED.
17 "If he refuses to listen to them, 9tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, 10let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
18 "Truly I say to you, 11whatever * you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever * you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

Cross References 11

  • 1. Matthew 5:30; Mark 9:43
  • 2. Matthew 5:29; Mark 9:47
  • 3. Matthew 5:22
  • 4. Luke 1:19; Acts 12:15; Revelation 8:2
  • 5. Luke 19:10
  • 6. Matthew 18:12-14: {Luke 15:4-7}
  • 7. Leviticus 19:17; Luke 17:3; Galatians 6:1; 2 Thessalonians 3:15; James 5:19
  • 8. Deuteronomy 19:15; John 8:17; 2 Corinthians 13:1; 1 Timothy 5:19; Hebrews 10:28
  • 9. 1 Corinthians 6:1f
  • 10. 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14
  • 11. Matthew 16:19; John 20:23

Footnotes 15

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California.  All rights reserved.