Do not cast me away from your presence, and
do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and
asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins
against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus
answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[g]
23 “Therefore,
the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his
servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten
thousand bags of gold[h] was brought
to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered
that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the
debt.
26 “At
this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged,
‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took
pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But
when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a
hundred silver coins.[i] He grabbed
him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His
fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I
will pay it back.’
30 “But
he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he
could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had
happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had
happened.
32 “Then
the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled
all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t
you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In
anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should
pay back all he owed.
35 “This
is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your
brother or sister from your heart.”
15 “If your brother or sister[b] sins,[c] go and
point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you
have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or
two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of
two or three witnesses.’[d]17 If
they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to
listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
18 “Truly
I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be[e] bound in
heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[f] loosed in
heaven.
19 “Again,
truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for,
it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where
two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
10 “See that you do not despise one
of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the
face of my Father in heaven. [11] [a]
12 “What
do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will
he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that
wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is
happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander
off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing
that any of these little ones should perish.
