Matthew 18:14-24

14 In just the same way your Father in heaven does not want any of these little ones to be lost.

15 "If your brother sins against you, go to him and show him his fault. But do it privately, just between yourselves. If he listens to you, you have won your brother back. ¹

16 But if he will not listen to you, take one or two other persons with you, so that "every accusation may be upheld by the testimony of two or more witnesses,' as the scripture says. ²

17 And if he will not listen to them, then tell the whole thing to the church. Finally, if he will not listen to the church, treat him as though he were a pagan or a tax collector.

18 "And so I tell all of you: what you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and what you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven. ³

19 "And I tell you more: whenever two of you on earth agree about anything you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.

20 For where two or three come together in my name, I am there with them."

21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, if my brother keeps on sinning against me, how many times do I have to forgive him? Seven times?" ⁴

22 "No, not seven times," answered Jesus, "but seventy times seven, ⁵

23 because the Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there was a king who decided to check on his servants' accounts.

24 He had just begun to do so when one of them was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.

Cross References

• 1. 18.15Luke 17.3.
• 2. 18.16Deuteronomy 19.15.
• 3. 18.18Matthew 16.19;John 20.23.
• 4. 18.21, 22Luke 17.3, 4.
• 5. 18.22Genesis 4.24.

Footnotes

• [a]. your; [some manuscripts have] my.
• [b]. [Some manuscripts do not have] against you.
• [c]. seventy times seven; [or] seventy-seven times.