Matius 18:21-25

18:21 Then Peter came to him and said, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother ¹  who sins against me? As many as seven times?” 18:22 Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy-seven times! ² 

The Parable of the Unforgiving Slave

18:23 “For this reason, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves. ³  18:24 As ⁴  he began settling his accounts, a man who owed ten thousand talents ⁵  was brought to him. 18:25 Because ⁶  he was not able to repay it, ⁷  the lord ordered him to be sold, along with ⁸  his wife, children, and whatever he possessed, and repayment to be made.

[18:21]  ¹ tn Here the term “brother” means “fellow believer” or “fellow Christian” (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 2.a), whether male or female. Concerning the familial connotations, see also the note on the first occurrence of this term in v. 15.

[18:22]  ² tn Or “seventy times seven,” i.e., an unlimited number of times. See L&N 60.74 and 60.77 for the two possible translations of the phrase.

[18:23]  ³ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 8:9.

[18:24]  ⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[18:24]  ⁵ sn A talent was a huge sum of money, equal to 6,000 denarii. One denarius was the usual day’s wage for a worker. L&N 6.82 states, “a Greek monetary unit (also a unit of weight) with a value which fluctuated, depending upon the particular monetary system which prevailed at a particular period of time (a silver talent was worth approximately six thousand denarii with gold talents worth at least thirty times that much).”

[18:25]  ⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[18:25]  ⁷ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[18:25]  ⁸ tn Grk “and his wife.”