Matthew 18
The chapter in full, then the passages inside it that are worth stopping on — what each one claims, what the Greek or Hebrew shows, and how the reading is arrived at.
Matthew 18 WEB
- 1 In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?"
- 2 Jesus called a little child to himself, and set him in the middle of them
- 3 and said, "Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
- 4 Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
- 5 Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me,
- 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a huge millstone were hung around his neck and that he were sunk in the depths of the sea.
- 7 "Woe to the world because of occasions of stumbling! For it must be that the occasions come, but woe to that person through whom the occasion comes!
- 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire.
- 9 If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire.
- 10 See that you don't despise one 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 came to save that which was lost.
- 12 "What do you think? If a man has one hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, doesn't he leave the ninety-nine, go to the mountains, and seek that which has gone astray?
- 13 If he finds it, most certainly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.
- 14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
- 15 "If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother.
- 16 But if he doesn't listen, take one or two more with you, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
- 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly. If he refuses to hear the assembly also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector.
- 18 Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven.
- 19 Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.
- 20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them."
- 21 Then Peter came and said to him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times? Jesus said to him, I don't tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.
- 23 Therefore the Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
- 24 When he had begun to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
- 25 But because he couldn't pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, with his wife, his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
- 26 The servant therefore fell down and knelt before him, saying, 'Lord, have patience with me, and I will repay you all!'
- 27 The lord of that servant, being moved with compassion, released him and forgave him the debt.
- 28 "But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him one hundred denarii, and he grabbed him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!'
- 29 "So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will repay you!'
- 30 He would not, but went and cast him into prison until he should pay back that which was due.
- 31 So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were exceedingly sorry, and came and told their lord all that was done.
- 32 Then his lord called him in and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.
- 33 Shouldn't you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you?'
- 34 His lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors until he should pay all that was due to him.
- 35 So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you don't each forgive your brother from your hearts for his misdeeds."
Matthew 18 is Jesus' fourth major discourse in the gospel, delivered to the disciples alone after a dispute — reported in Mark and Luke — over which of them ranked highest. It moves from that quarrel through the value of the small and the sinned-against, into a procedure for handling wrongdoing inside the community, and closes with a parable that makes forgiveness the price of admission to everything the discourse has said. The chapter is Matthew's fullest picture of what he calls the ekklesia — the assembly, the church, a term that appears here and nowhere else in the gospel outside 16:18.
18:1-4 Become as little children
The disciples' question — "who then is greatest" — arrives already answered by its own vanity; Mark 9:33 and Luke 9:46 confirm they had just been arguing about it. Jesus does not rank them. He sets a child (παιδίον) in the middle of the group and says unless they "turn and become as little children" (στραφῆτε καὶ γένησθε ὡς τὰ παιδία) they will not enter the kingdom at all — greatness isn't the issue yet, entry is.
The point is not innocence or purity of heart; children in the ancient world were not sentimentalized that way, and the text never says they are sinless. The point is status: a child had no legal standing, no voice, no claim to honor. To "humble himself as this little child" (18:4) is to accept a position with no leverage, not to cultivate a personality trait. This reading is the near-consensus among commentators from Chrysostom onward, against the popular but thinner gloss that Jesus is praising childlike trust or wonder. James 4:10 states the pattern in general form — "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you" — but Matthew's version is sharper: it is not about being exalted later, it is about whether one enters at all.
18:6-9 A millstone around his neck
"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble" (σκανδαλίσῃ, from σκάνδαλον, a trap-trigger or stumbling-block) — the "little ones" here are not only children but anyone of low status and weak faith in the community, the vulnerable believer generally. The penalty imagined — a millstone (μύλος ὀνικός, literally a "donkey-millstone," the large kind turned by an animal, not the hand-mill a woman worked) hung on the neck and drowning in the sea — is deliberately grotesque, a death with no proper burial, a horror to the Jewish imagination. It is hyperbole in service of a real claim: causing another believer's faith to collapse is a graver evil than a common execution.
The following verses (8-9), about cutting off a hand or plucking out an eye, are stock Matthean hyperbole (compare 5:29-30) and are read by essentially all serious interpreters as figurative — the point is the ruthlessness required against whatever in oneself produces the stumbling, not literal mutilation, which would still leave the heart unaddressed. "Gehenna of fire" names the valley south of Jerusalem, historically associated with child sacrifice and later refuse-burning, which by Jesus' day had become the standard image for final judgment.
18:10-14 The lost sheep and the Father's will
The shepherd who leaves ninety-nine to seek the one who strayed is not describing an efficient business model — a shepherd risking ninety-nine sheep for one looks reckless by any economic measure, which is the point. Verse 14 states the theological weight directly: "it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." This is Matthew's version of the parable Luke uses evangelistically (Luke 15) turned pastorally: here the "sheep" is a straying member of the church, and the passage functions as the emotional ground beneath the discipline procedure that follows — the goal of confronting sin is retrieval, not expulsion.
18:15-17 Tell it to the church
This is the chapter's procedural core and its most misapplied section. The sequence — private confrontation, then two or three witnesses, then the ekklesia, then treatment "as a Gentile or a tax collector" — is often read as a script for formal excommunication votes. What the text actually specifies is narrower: a graduated process aimed at restoration ("if he listens to you, you have gained back your brother"), escalating only because the wrong has not been acknowledged, not because the goal is punishment. The final step does not name a penalty; being treated as "a Gentile or a tax collector" means being treated as an outsider to the fellowship's trust, which for Matthew's audience of Jewish followers of Jesus was a socially loaded but not physically violent designation. What happens beyond that — restoration, how, on what terms — the passage leaves open, and churches have disagreed for centuries on the mechanics without disagreeing on the aim stated in verse 15.
18:18-20 Where two or three are gathered
"Whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven" is often lifted out and applied to prayer requests or personal decisions generally. In context it belongs to the discipline process just described: the community's judgment on sin and repentance, reached properly, carries heaven's ratification. Verse 20's promise — "where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them" — is likewise frequently detached into a general comfort for any small gathering, which it can bear, but its placement ties it to verse 19's "if two of you will agree... concerning anything that they will ask": the assurance of Christ's presence is given specifically to a community exercising judgment and prayer together, not merely meeting.
18:21-35 Seventy times seven / the unforgiving servant
Peter's offer of seven forgivenesses was already generous by rabbinic standards of the day; Jesus's "seventy times seven" (ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά) is not a ceiling to be counted toward but a refusal of arithmetic altogether. The parable that follows makes the logic explicit through scale: ten thousand talents (μυρίων ταλάντων) is an absurd, unpayable sum — a single talent was many years' wages — against a debt of a hundred denarii, a few months' wages, owed by the fellow servant. The first servant's forgiven debt is not comparable to the second's; it dwarfs it. The king's anger falls not because the servant failed to forgive perfectly, but because he had just received mercy of an incomparable order and refused the smaller version of it to someone else. Verse 35 closes the discourse by making this explicit and personal: "So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you don't each forgive your brother from your hearts for his misdeeds." That is a hard word, stated plainly, and the chapter does not soften it.
What the chapter asks
Matthew 18 asks whether the standing a person seeks in a community is the standing Jesus describes as greatness — low, unprotected, dependent — and whether the value placed on the weak member of that community matches the lengths to which the text says God goes to keep one from being lost. It asks whether wrongdoing between believers is handled toward recovery or toward severance, and it makes the answer to that turn on an arithmetic each person has already been given: a debt cancelled beyond any capacity to repay, set against whatever a brother or sister still owes.
The verses this turns on
In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?"discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ὥρᾳ προσῆλθον οἱ μαθηταὶ τῷ Ἰησοῦ λέγοντες Τίς ἄρα μείζων ἐστὶν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν;
- Ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- ἐκείνῃ ἐκεῖνος demonstrative pronoun · dative singular feminine G1565
- τῇ ὁ article · dative singular feminine G3588
- ὥρᾳ ὥρα noun · dative singular feminine G5610
- προσῆλθον προσέρχομαι verb · aorist active indicative, 3rd person plural G4334
- οἱ ὁ article · nominative plural masculine G3588
- μαθηταὶ μαθητής noun · nominative plural masculine G3101
- τῷ ὁ article · dative singular masculine G3588
- Ἰησοῦ Ἰησοῦς noun · dative singular masculine G2424
- λέγοντες λέγω verb · present active participle, nominative plural masculine G3004
- Τίς τίς interrogative pronoun · nominative singular masculine G5101
- ἄρα ἆρα particle G687
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Mark 9:33 He came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing among yourselves on the way?"
- Luke 9:46 An argument arose among them about which of them was the greatest.
- Matthew 20:20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking a certain thing of him.
- Philippians 2:3 doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;
- Luke 22:24 A dispute also arose among them, which of them was considered to be greatest.
Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
ὅστις οὖν ταπεινώσει ἑαυτὸν ὡς τὸ παιδίον τοῦτο, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ μείζων ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν.
- ὅστις ὅστις relative pronoun · nominative singular masculine G3748
- οὖν οὖν conjunction G3767
- ταπεινώσει ταπεινόω verb · future active indicative, 3rd person singular G5013
- ἑαυτὸν ἑαυτοῦ reflexive pronoun G1438
- ὡς ὡς adverb G5613
- τὸ ὁ article · nominative singular neuter G3588
- παιδίον παιδίον noun · nominative singular neuter G3813
- τοῦτο, οὗτος demonstrative pronoun · nominative singular neuter G3778
- οὗτός οὗτος demonstrative pronoun · nominative singular masculine G3778
- ἐστιν εἰμί verb · present active indicative, 3rd person singular G1510
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- μείζων μέγας adjective · nominative singular masculine G3173
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.
- Mark 10:43 But it shall not be so among you, but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant.
- Luke 14:11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
- Luke 9:48 and said to them, "Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me. Whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For whoever is least among you all, this one will be great."
- Matthew 23:11 But he who is greatest among you will be your servant.
but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a huge millstone were hung around his neck and that he were sunk in the depths of the sea.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
ὃς δ’ ἂν σκανδαλίσῃ ἕνα τῶν μικρῶν τούτων τῶν πιστευόντων εἰς ἐμέ, συμφέρει αὐτῷ ἵνα κρεμασθῇ μύλος ὀνικὸς περὶ τὸν τράχηλον αὐτοῦ καὶ καταποντισθῇ ἐν τῷ πελάγει τῆς θαλάσσης.
- ὃς ὅς relative pronoun · nominative singular masculine G3739
- δ’ δέ conjunction G1161
- ἂν ἄν particle G302
- σκανδαλίσῃ σκανδαλίζω verb · aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular G4624
- ἕνα εἷς adjective · accusative singular masculine G1520
- τῶν ὁ article · genitive plural masculine G3588
- μικρῶν μικρός adjective · genitive plural masculine G3398
- τούτων οὗτος demonstrative pronoun · genitive plural masculine G3778
- τῶν ὁ article · genitive plural masculine G3588
- πιστευόντων πιστεύω verb · present active participle, genitive plural masculine G4100
- εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
- ἐμέ, ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Mark 9:42 "Whoever will cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if he were thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around his neck.
- Luke 17:1 He said to the disciples, "It is impossible that no occasions of stumbling should come, but woe to him through whom they come!
- Matthew 18:10 See that you don't despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:6 For it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you,
- Matthew 18:14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
See that you don't despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Ὁρᾶτε μὴ καταφρονήσητε ἑνὸς τῶν μικρῶν τούτων· λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι οἱ ἄγγελοι αὐτῶν ἐν οὐρανοῖς διὰ παντὸς βλέπουσι τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ Πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς.
- Ὁρᾶτε ὁράω verb · present active imperative, 2nd person plural G3708
- μὴ μή particle · nominative G3361
- καταφρονήσητε καταφρονέω verb · aorist active subjunctive, 2nd person plural G2706
- ἑνὸς εἷς adjective · genitive singular neuter G1520
- τῶν ὁ article · genitive plural neuter G3588
- μικρῶν μικρός adjective · genitive plural neuter G3398
- τούτων· οὗτος demonstrative pronoun · genitive plural neuter G3778
- λέγω λέγω verb · present active indicative, 1st person singular G3004
- γὰρ γάρ conjunction G1063
- ὑμῖν σύ personal pronoun G4771
- ὅτι ὅτι conjunction G3754
- οἱ ὁ article · nominative plural masculine G3588
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Psalm 91:11 For he will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways.
- Hebrews 1:14 Aren't they all serving spirits, sent out to do service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
- Psalm 34:7 Yahweh's angel encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
- Luke 16:22 The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.
- Acts 12:7 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, "Stand up quickly!" His chains fell off his hands.
"If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Ἐὰν δὲ ἁμαρτήσῃ ὁ ἀδελφός σου, ὕπαγε ἔλεγξον αὐτὸν μεταξὺ σοῦ καὶ αὐτοῦ μόνου. ἐάν σου ἀκούσῃ, ἐκέρδησας τὸν ἀδελφόν σου·
- Ἐὰν ἐάν conditional G1437
- δὲ δέ conjunction G1161
- ἁμαρτήσῃ ἁμαρτάνω verb · aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular G264
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- ἀδελφός ἀδελφός noun · nominative singular masculine G80
- σου, σύ personal pronoun G4771
- ὕπαγε ὑπάγω verb · present active imperative, 2nd person singular G5217
- ἔλεγξον ἐλέγχω verb · aorist active imperative, 2nd person singular G1651
- αὐτὸν αὐτός personal pronoun · accusative singular masculine G846
- μεταξὺ μεταξύ adverb G3342
- σοῦ σύ personal pronoun G4771
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Leviticus 19:17 "'You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.
- Galatians 6:1 Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, looking to yourself so that you also aren't tempted.
- Luke 17:3 Be careful. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him.
- 2 Thessalonians 3:15 Don't count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
- Colossians 3:13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.
Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅσα ἐὰν δήσητε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔσται δεδεμένα ἐν οὐρανῷ, καὶ ὅσα ἐὰν λύσητε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔσται λελυμένα ἐν οὐρανῷ.
- Ἀμὴν ἀμήν Hebrew transliteration G281
- λέγω λέγω verb · present active indicative, 1st person singular G3004
- ὑμῖν, σύ personal pronoun G4771
- ὅσα ὅσος correlative pronoun · accusative plural neuter G3745
- ἐὰν ἐάν conditional G1437
- δήσητε δέω verb · aorist active subjunctive, 2nd person plural G1210
- ἐπὶ ἐπί preposition G1909
- τῆς ὁ article · genitive singular feminine G3588
- γῆς γῆ noun · genitive singular feminine G1093
- ἔσται εἰμί verb · future middle deponent indicative, 3rd person singular G1510
- δεδεμένα δέω verb · perfect passive participle, nominative plural neuter G1210
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Matthew 16:19 I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven."
- 2 Corinthians 2:10 Now I also forgive whomever you forgive anything. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ,
- John 20:23 If you forgive anyone's sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone's sins, they have been retained."
- 1 Corinthians 5:4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together with my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
- Revelation 3:7 "To the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write: "He who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says these things:
Then Peter came and said to him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times? Jesus said to him, I don't tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Τότε προσελθὼν ὁ Πέτρος εἶπεν αὐτῷ Κύριε, ποσάκις ἁμαρτήσει εἰς ἐμὲ ὁ ἀδελφός μου καὶ ἀφήσω αὐτῷ; ἕως ἑπτάκις;
- Τότε τότε adverb G5119
- προσελθὼν προσέρχομαι verb · aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine G4334
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- Πέτρος Πέτρος noun · nominative singular masculine G4074
- εἶπεν λέγω verb · aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular G3004
- αὐτῷ αὐτός personal pronoun · dative singular masculine G846
- Κύριε, κύριος noun · vocative singular masculine G2962
- ποσάκις ποσάκις adverb G4212
- ἁμαρτήσει ἁμαρτάνω verb · future active indicative, 3rd person singular G264
- εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
- ἐμὲ ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Luke 17:3 Be careful. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him.
- Mark 11:25 Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your transgressions.
- Matthew 18:15 "If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother.
- Ephesians 4:31-32 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
- Matthew 6:14 "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
From the interpretive tradition
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — or else he would be the Devil of Hell.
The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked.