Matthew 18:17-27

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. ¹

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?" ²

22 "No, not seven times," answered Jesus, "but seventy times seven, ³

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.

25 The servant did not have enough to pay his debt, so the king ordered him to be sold as a slave, with his wife and his children and all that he had, in order to pay the debt.

26 The servant fell on his knees before the king. "Be patient with me,' he begged, "and I will pay you everything!'

27 The king felt sorry for him, so he forgave him the debt and let him go.

Cross References

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

Footnotes

• [a]. seventy times seven; [or] seventy-seven times.