1
Ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ὥρᾳ προσῆλθον οἱ μαθηταὶ τῷ Ἰησοῦ λέγοντες· Τίς ἄρα μείζων ἐστὶν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν;
In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greater in the kingdom of the heavens?”
Greater is the comparative, not “greatest” — the disciples ask about rank.
first here Jesus Ἰησοῦς Iēsous
2
καὶ ⸀προσκαλεσάμενος παιδίον ἔστησεν αὐτὸ ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν
And calling a child to him, he set it in their midst
Set it in their midst — the child is placed where the argument was.
pronoun him = Jesus
pronoun he = Jesus
pronoun it = the child
pronoun their = the disciples
3
καὶ εἶπεν· Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐὰν μὴ στραφῆτε καὶ γένησθε ὡς τὰ παιδία, οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθητε εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν.
and said, “Amen I say to you, unless you turn and become like the children, you will never enter the kingdom of the heavens.
Turn (στρέφω, strephō) is to turn around — this book uses it where others say “repent”.
pronoun I = Jesus
pronoun you = the disciples — both times
4
ὅστις οὖν ταπεινώσει ἑαυτὸν ὡς τὸ παιδίον τοῦτο, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ μείζων ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν·
Whoever therefore humbles himself like this child, he is the greater in the kingdom of the heavens.
Humbles himself — the answer to verse 1 is put in the same comparative.
pronoun himself = whoever humbles himself
pronoun this = the child
pronoun he = whoever humbles himself
5
καὶ ὃς ⸀ἐὰν δέξηται ⸂ἓν παιδίον τοιοῦτο⸃ ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐμὲ δέχεται.
And whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.
In my name renders “upon my name” in Greek.
pronoun my = Jesus
pronoun me = Jesus
6
Ὃς δ’ ἂν σκανδαλίσῃ ἕνα τῶν μικρῶν τούτων τῶν πιστευόντων εἰς ἐμέ, συμφέρει αὐτῷ ἵνα κρεμασθῇ μύλος ὀνικὸς ⸀εἰς τὸν τράχηλον αὐτοῦ καὶ καταποντισθῇ ἐν τῷ πελάγει τῆς θαλάσσης.
But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it is better for him that a donkey's millstone be hung around his neck and that he be sunk in the deep of the sea.
Donkey's millstone is the big stone turned by an animal, not the hand-mill. Sunk in the deep renders καταποντίζω (katapontizō), used in the four Gospels only here and at 14:30.
pronoun me = Jesus
pronoun him = whoever causes one to stumble
pronoun his = the same
pronoun he = the same
Why this rendering
Matt.18.6 Observation
Syntactic observation
The first half overlaps Mark 9:42 word for word — ὃς ἂν σκανδαλίσῃ ἕνα τῶν μικρῶν τούτων τῶν πιστευόντων εἰς ἐμέ. μύλος ὀνικός, a donkey's millstone, stands in both, and ὀνικός occurs at these two places only (Matt 18:6, Mark 9:42). Luke 17:2 writes the same saying with λίθος μυλικός, a millstone of stone — there is no donkey in Luke. What diverges is the three verbs that follow. Mark hangs the stone with περίκειται, it lies around, Matthew with κρεμασθῇ, it be hung; the preposition differs too, περὶ τὸν τράχηλον against εἰς τὸν τράχηλον. For the drowning Mark has βέβληται εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, thrown into the sea; Matthew καταποντισθῇ ἐν τῷ πελάγει τῆς θαλάσσης, sunk in the deep of the sea; and Luke ἔρριπται εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, hurled into the sea — a third verb. Luke's hanging verb, though, is Mark's (περίκειται). Luke keeps Mark's frame and changes only the stone and the throwing; Matthew changes all three. καταποντίζομαι occurs twice in the four Gospels, the other at Matthew 14:30 — where Peter, walking on the water, began to sink. πέλαγος, the open deep, is unique in the four Gospels. Verse 7 repeats σκάνδαλον three times, setting it as the paragraph's key word.
Rendering options · 2
Adopted “sunk in the deep of the sea” — the same word as beginning to sink at 14:30
Basis Matthew places one verb at both, so the rendering is held to one; πέλαγος is kept as the deep, distinguishing it from Mark 9:42's thrown into the sea.
“drowned in the sea” — matched to Mark
Basis One figure, so the books are matched.
Rejected The books chose different verbs, and Matthew's is the one used of Peter at 14:30; matching cuts both links.
7
οὐαὶ τῷ κόσμῳ ἀπὸ τῶν σκανδάλων· ἀνάγκη ⸀γὰρ ἐλθεῖν τὰ σκάνδαλα, πλὴν οὐαὶ τῷ ⸀ἀνθρώπῳ δι’ οὗ τὸ σκάνδαλον ἔρχεται.
Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks. For it is necessary that the stumbling blocks come, yet woe to the man through whom the stumbling block comes.
Stumbling blocks renders σκάνδαλα (skandala), the trap-stick as a noun. It is necessary — the Greek says only that, and does not say why.
pronoun whom = the man
8
Εἰ δὲ ἡ χείρ σου ἢ ὁ πούς σου σκανδαλίζει σε, ἔκκοψον ⸀αὐτὸν καὶ βάλε ἀπὸ σοῦ· καλόν σοί ἐστιν εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν ζωὴν ⸂κυλλὸν ἢ χωλόν⸃, ἢ δύο χεῖρας ἢ δύο πόδας ἔχοντα βληθῆναι εἰς τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰώνιον.
And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or lame than, having two hands or two feet, to be thrown into the eternal fire.
Maimed (κυλλός, kyllos) is a crippled limb. Mark 9:43 splits hand and foot into two sayings; this book joins them.
pronoun your = the hearer — both times
pronoun you = the hearer — every “you” here is the hearer
pronoun it = your hand or foot
9
καὶ εἰ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου σκανδαλίζει σε, ἔξελε αὐτὸν καὶ βάλε ἀπὸ σοῦ· καλόν σοί ἐστιν μονόφθαλμον εἰς τὴν ζωὴν εἰσελθεῖν, ἢ δύο ὀφθαλμοὺς ἔχοντα βληθῆναι εἰς τὴν γέενναν τοῦ πυρός.
And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter into life one-eyed than, having two eyes, to be thrown into the Gehenna of fire.
Gehenna is a place-name kept as sound, not turned into “hell”.
pronoun your = the hearer
pronoun you = the hearer — every “you” here is the hearer
pronoun it = your eye
10
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.
See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I say to you that their angels in the heavens continually see the face of my Father in the heavens.”
Their angels — only this book has the line. Verse 11 is not in the base text this edition follows.
pronoun you = the disciples — both times
pronoun these = the little ones
pronoun I = Jesus
pronoun their = the little ones
pronoun my = Jesus
Why this rendering
Matt.18.10 Observation
Syntactic observation
SBLGNT has no verse 11 — v.10 is followed by v.12. The Textus Receptus prints here: for the Son of Man came to save what was lost. This is the second such place inside Matthew: after 17:21 (prayer and fasting) comes 18:11, and both look like sentences resident elsewhere that migrated here. In the four Gospels the verses the base text omits now number seven: Mark 7:16, 9:44, 46, 11:26, 15:28; Matthew 17:21, 18:11. The content of v.10 repays attention too — τῶν μικρῶν τούτων, these little ones, recurs at vv.6 and 14 and binds the paragraph, and διὰ παντός, continually, says that the angels' seeing of the Father's face is unbroken. καταφρονέω, to despise, occurs twice in Matthew (6:24, 18:10) and once in Luke (16:13, the parallel to 6:24); at 6:24 it was despising one of two masters.
Rendering options · 2
Adopted From v.10 to v.12 — no verse 11
Basis Follows the base text and lets the numbering skip — the same handling as 17:21.
Print verse 11
Basis Follows the Textus Receptus.
Rejected By our base-text decision we follow SBLGNT, and the direction runs one way: a sentence resident elsewhere being pulled in before the parable of the lost sheep is easy to imagine; an existing verse being deleted is not.
12
τί ὑμῖν δοκεῖ; ἐὰν γένηταί τινι ἀνθρώπῳ ἑκατὸν πρόβατα καὶ πλανηθῇ ἓν ἐξ αὐτῶν, οὐχὶ ⸀ἀφήσει τὰ ἐνενήκοντα ἐννέα ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη ⸀καὶ πορευθεὶς ζητεῖ τὸ πλανώμενον;
“What do you think? If a man comes to have a hundred sheep and one of them strays, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go and seek the one that strays?
Strays (πλανάω, planaō) is to wander off the road — the word Luke 15:4 does not use, where the sheep is simply lost.
pronoun you = the disciples
pronoun them = the hundred sheep
pronoun he = the man
13
καὶ ἐὰν γένηται εὑρεῖν αὐτό, ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι χαίρει ἐπ’ αὐτῷ μᾶλλον ἢ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐνενήκοντα ἐννέα τοῖς μὴ πεπλανημένοις.
And if he happens to find it, Amen I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that did not stray.
If he happens to find it — the finding is not made certain.
pronoun he = the man — both times
pronoun it = the sheep — both times
14
οὕτως οὐκ ἔστιν θέλημα ⸀ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ πατρὸς ⸀ὑμῶν τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς ἵνα ἀπόληται ⸀ἓν τῶν μικρῶν τούτων.
So it is not the will before your Father in the heavens that one of these little ones perish.
Before your Father keeps a Semitic turn — the Greek says “before”, not “of”.
pronoun your = the disciples
pronoun these = the little ones
15
Ἐὰν δὲ ἁμαρτήσῃ ⸂εἰς σὲ⸃ ὁ ἀδελφός σου, ⸀ὕπαγε ἔλεγξον αὐτὸν μεταξὺ σοῦ καὶ αὐτοῦ μόνου. ἐάν σου ἀκούσῃ, ἐκέρδησας τὸν ἀδελφόν σου·
And if your brother sins against you, go and expose him between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
Against you — the manuscripts differ over whether these words stand. Expose (ἐλέγχω, elenchō) is to bring to light and convict.
pronoun your = the hearer — both times
pronoun you = the hearer — every “you” here is the hearer
pronoun him = your brother — both times
pronoun he = your brother
16
ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀκούσῃ, παράλαβε μετὰ σοῦ ἔτι ἕνα ἢ δύο, ἵνα ἐπὶ στόματος δύο μαρτύρων ἢ τριῶν σταθῇ πᾶν ῥῆμα·
But if he does not listen, take with you one or two more, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand.
By the mouth of two or three witnesses is Deuteronomy 19:15, quoted without being named.
pronoun he = your brother
pronoun you = the hearer
17
ἐὰν δὲ παρακούσῃ αὐτῶν, εἰπὸν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ· ἐὰν δὲ καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας παρακούσῃ, ἔστω σοι ὥσπερ ὁ ἐθνικὸς καὶ ὁ τελώνης.
And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the assembly; and if he refuses to hear the assembly also, let him be to you as the gentile and the tax collector.
Assembly renders ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia), a called-out gathering — this book alone uses the word, here and at 16:18.
pronoun he = your brother — both times
pronoun them = the witnesses
pronoun it = the matter
pronoun him = your brother
pronoun you = the hearer
Why this rendering
Matt.18.17 Observation
Syntactic observation
ἐκκλησία arrives at Matthew's second and third places — once at 16:18, twice here at 18:17, and never in Mark or John. At 16:18 it was something to be built; here it is already a body with a procedure: between the two of you → taking one or two more → tell it to the assembly. Two of the word's three places in Matthew fall in this one verse. What follows, ὁ ἐθνικὸς καὶ ὁ τελώνης, the gentile and the tax collector, is Matthew's vocabulary too — ἐθνικός three times in Matthew (5:47, 6:7, 18:17) and never in Mark. And the binding and loosing of the next verse changes number: 16:19 has δήσῃς, if you (singular) bind; 18:18 has δήσητε, if you (plural) bind — and the perfect participle that follows shifts with it, δεδεμένον singular against δεδεμένα plural. The same authority is given once to one man and once to a body. Verses 19-20 give that body's smallest size as two or three.
Rendering options · 2
Adopted “assembly” — the same word as 16:18
Basis Keeps the decision fixed at ch. 16 not to import a later institutional name; one word across the three places keeps them countable.
“the church”
Basis Uses the settled rendering.
Rejected Church names a later institution and narrows what the reader can make of the word in Matthew's three places — the same judgement as at 16:18.
18
ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅσα ⸀ἐὰν δήσητε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔσται δεδεμένα ⸀ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ὅσα ἐὰν λύσητε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔσται λελυμένα ⸁ἐν οὐρανῷ.
Amen I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.
Will have been bound and will have been loosed are future perfects, as at 16:19 — but here the saying is given to the assembly, not to Peter.
pronoun I = Jesus
pronoun you = the disciples — every “you” here is the disciples
19
Πάλιν ⸀ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ἐὰν δύο ⸂συμφωνήσωσιν ἐξ ὑμῶν⸃ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς περὶ παντὸς πράγματος οὗ ἐὰν αἰτήσωνται, γενήσεται αὐτοῖς παρὰ τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς.
Again, Amen I say to you that if two of you agree on earth about anything they may ask, it will be done for them by my Father in the heavens.
Agree renders συμφωνέω (symphōneō) — the verb behind “symphony”.
pronoun I = Jesus
pronoun you = the disciples
pronoun they = the two who agree
pronoun it = what they ask
pronoun them = the two
pronoun my = Jesus
20
οὗ γάρ εἰσιν δύο ἢ τρεῖς συνηγμένοι εἰς τὸ ἐμὸν ὄνομα, ἐκεῖ εἰμι ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν.
For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst.”
There I am in their midst — the same phrase as at 28:20, and it closes this half of the chapter.
pronoun my = Jesus
pronoun I = Jesus
pronoun their = the two or three
21
Τότε προσελθὼν ⸂αὐτῷ ὁ Πέτρος εἶπεν⸃· Κύριε, ποσάκις ἁμαρτήσει εἰς ἐμὲ ὁ ἀδελφός μου καὶ ἀφήσω αὐτῷ; ἕως ἑπτάκις;
Then Peter came to him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
Up to seven times — Peter offers a number he takes to be generous.
first here Peter Πέτρος Petros
pronoun him = Jesus
pronoun my = Peter
pronoun me = Peter
pronoun I = Peter
22
λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Οὐ λέγω σοι ἕως ἑπτάκις ἀλλὰ ἕως ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά.
Jesus says to him, “I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy-seven times.
Seventy-seven times — the Greek may also be read “seventy times seven”, and it is not settled. Either way the number is meant to stop counting.
pronoun him = Peter
pronoun I = Jesus
pronoun you = Peter
Why this rendering
Matt.18.22 Hypothesis
Syntactic observation
ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά will not resolve into a number. ἑβδομηκοντάκις is an adverb meaning seventy times, and ἑπτά, seven, simply follows it. Multiply the two and you get four hundred and ninety; read the adverb as seventy and the numeral as seven joined to it and you get seventy-seven. Greek grammar settles neither. ἑβδομηκοντάκις occurs only here in the four Gospels, and since it answers the ἑπτάκις, seven times, of v.21, all that is clear is that the count picks up the previous number. Luke 17:4 has the same exchange and does not raise the figure at all — ἑπτάκις τῆς ἡμέρας, seven times a day, and it stays at seven. Only Matthew raises the number, and by how much is what will not resolve. Either way the point is to stop counting — but a translation must choose a number, and in choosing it settles what the text does not. The versions compared divide as well: of the twenty-nine, only BSB, ESV, NET and NIV read seventy-seven; the rest read seventy times seven. This project has taken the minority reading, and says so here.
Rendering options · 2
Adopted “up to seventy-seven times” — not multiplied
Basis Multiplying requires importing an operation the text does not state; reading them joined adds less. But this is the path of only four of the twenty-nine versions compared, and that we part from the majority is recorded here.
“up to seventy times seven”
Basis Reads adverb and numeral as a product.
Rejected A possible and old reading, but the multiplication is supplied by the reader, not required by the grammar. Either way the translation fixes a number, and that fact is recorded in the analysis.
Lost in translation
the sense of not counting Whichever number is chosen, the reader counts it. The way the Greek blurs the number is itself the point — stop counting — and a translation has nowhere to hold the blur.
this edition — none of the nine carries it (measured)
23
Διὰ τοῦτο ὡμοιώθη ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀνθρώπῳ βασιλεῖ ὃς ἠθέλησεν συνᾶραι λόγον μετὰ τῶν δούλων αὐτοῦ·
For this reason the kingdom of the heavens has become like a man, a king, who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.
Settle accounts renders a phrase from bookkeeping.
pronoun who = a man, a king
pronoun his = the king
24
ἀρξαμένου δὲ αὐτοῦ συναίρειν ⸀προσηνέχθη ⸂αὐτῷ εἷς⸃ ὀφειλέτης μυρίων ταλάντων.
And when he began to settle, one debtor of ten thousand talents was brought to him.
Ten thousand talents — the talent is a weight of silver kept as sound, and the number is the largest in the four Gospels. It cannot be repaid, and that is the point.
pronoun he = the king
pronoun him = the king
Why this rendering
Matt.18.24 Observation
Syntactic observation
The size of the debt is built from two words. μυρίων, ten thousand, occurs at this one place in the four Gospels, and τάλαντον, talent, fourteen times in Matthew (18:24 and the talents of 25:15-28) and never in Mark or John. Set against it at v.28 is ἑκατὸν δηνάρια, a hundred denarii — δηνάριον runs through all four books (six in Matthew, three in Mark, three in Luke, two in John) and reckons a day's wage. So the parable stacks a numeral used once in the four Gospels on a unit found in one book only, and sets against it a hundred of the coin that is everywhere. How far apart the two sums stand the text does not compute; that is the exchange rate the lexica supply. And the parable's vocabulary joins the prayer of ch. 6: ὀφειλέτης, debtor, occurs three times in the four Gospels: the other in Matthew is 6:12, in the Lord's Prayer, and the third is Luke 13:4.
Rendering options · 2
Adopted “ten thousand talents” and “a hundred denarii” — the coins transliterated
Basis Transliterating coins is fixed for the four Gospels (lepton, kodrantes, assarion, didrachma, stater); the ratio between the sums is not computed for the reader.
Convert to modern money
Basis Conveys the scale in a current sense.
Rejected A conversion needs a base year and prices the text does not supply, and it dissolves the stacking of a once-used numeral on a one-book unit, which is the picture of the parable.
Lost in translation
the ratio between the sums The exchange between talent and denarius comes from the lexica, not the text; how far apart the two debts stand therefore comes from outside the translation.
Survives in · this edition — 9 of the nine carry it (this language among them)
25
μὴ ἔχοντος δὲ αὐτοῦ ἀποδοῦναι ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸν ὁ ⸀κύριος πραθῆναι καὶ τὴν ⸀γυναῖκα καὶ τὰ τέκνα καὶ πάντα ὅσα ⸀ἔχει καὶ ἀποδοθῆναι.
And since he had nothing to repay, the master ordered him to be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment made.
Repayment made — the Greek says only that it be repaid, and does not say to whom.
pronoun he = the slave — both times
pronoun him = the slave
pronoun his = the slave
26
πεσὼν οὖν ὁ δοῦλος προσεκύνει αὐτῷ λέγων· ⸀Μακροθύμησον ἐπ’ ⸀ἐμοί, καὶ πάντα ⸂ἀποδώσω σοι⸃.
So the slave fell down and did obeisance to him, saying, “Be patient with me and I will repay you everything.”
Did obeisance renders προσκυνέω (proskyneō), the worship-word — this edition keeps one rendering for it in this chapter.
pronoun him = the master
pronoun me = the slave
pronoun I = the slave
pronoun you = the master
27
σπλαγχνισθεὶς δὲ ὁ κύριος τοῦ δούλου ἐκείνου ἀπέλυσεν αὐτόν, καὶ τὸ δάνειον ἀφῆκεν αὐτῷ.
And the master of that slave, moved with compassion, released him and forgave him the loan.
Forgave him the loan — the debt-word of 6:12 is not used here; this is a loan.
pronoun him = the slave — both times
28
ἐξελθὼν δὲ ὁ δοῦλος ἐκεῖνος εὗρεν ἕνα τῶν συνδούλων αὐτοῦ ὃς ὤφειλεν αὐτῷ ἑκατὸν δηνάρια, καὶ κρατήσας αὐτὸν ἔπνιγεν λέγων· ⸀Ἀπόδος εἴ τι ὀφείλεις.
But going out, that slave found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him he began to choke him, saying, “Repay whatever you owe.”
A hundred denarii — the denarius is a day's wage, so the sum is about a hundred days. It is a real debt, and it is nothing beside verse 24. Choke (πνίγω, pnigō) is the bare root of the verb at 13:7.
pronoun his = that slave
pronoun him = his fellow slave — both times
pronoun you = the fellow slave
29
πεσὼν οὖν ὁ σύνδουλος ⸀αὐτοῦ παρεκάλει αὐτὸν λέγων· Μακροθύμησον ἐπ’ ⸀ἐμοί, καὶ ἀποδώσω σοι.
So his fellow slave fell down and begged him, saying, “Be patient with me and I will repay you.”
Be patient with me and I will repay you — the words of verse 26, repeated exactly.
pronoun his = that slave
pronoun him = that slave
pronoun me = the fellow slave
pronoun I = the fellow slave
pronoun you = that slave
30
ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἤθελεν, ἀλλὰ ἀπελθὼν ἔβαλεν αὐτὸν εἰς φυλακὴν ἕως ⸀οὗ ἀποδῷ τὸ ὀφειλόμενον.
But he would not; he went and threw him into prison until he should repay what was owed.
Until he should repay — the same clause as verse 34.
pronoun he = that slave
pronoun him = the fellow slave
31
ἰδόντες ⸀οὖν οἱ σύνδουλοι αὐτοῦ τὰ γενόμενα ἐλυπήθησαν σφόδρα, καὶ ἐλθόντες διεσάφησαν τῷ κυρίῳ ἑαυτῶν πάντα τὰ γενόμενα.
So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened they were greatly grieved, and they came and made clear to their own master everything that had happened.
Made clear (διασαφέω, diasapheō) is used in the four Gospels only here and at 13:36.
pronoun his = that slave
pronoun they = the fellow slaves — both times
pronoun their own = the fellow slaves
32
τότε προσκαλεσάμενος αὐτὸν ὁ κύριος αὐτοῦ λέγει αὐτῷ· Δοῦλε πονηρέ, πᾶσαν τὴν ὀφειλὴν ἐκείνην ἀφῆκά σοι, ἐπεὶ παρεκάλεσάς με·
Then his master called him and says to him, “Evil slave, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.
Wicked slave — the master names him by what he did, not by the debt.
pronoun his = that slave
pronoun him = that slave
pronoun I = the master
pronoun you = that slave
pronoun me = the master
33
οὐκ ἔδει καὶ σὲ ἐλεῆσαι τὸν σύνδουλόν σου, ὡς κἀγὼ σὲ ἠλέησα;
Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I also had mercy on you?”
Had mercy (ἐλεέω, eleeō) — the mercy-word, set beside the compassion of verse 27.
pronoun you = that slave — both times
pronoun your = that slave
pronoun I = the master
34
καὶ ὀργισθεὶς ὁ κύριος αὐτοῦ παρέδωκεν αὐτὸν τοῖς βασανισταῖς ἕως οὗ ἀποδῷ πᾶν τὸ ⸀ὀφειλόμενον.
And his master, enraged, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed.
Torturers (βασανισταί, basanistai) is used once in the four Gospels — the noun of the verb at 8:29.
pronoun his = that slave
pronoun him = that slave
pronoun he = that slave
35
Οὕτως καὶ ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ ⸀οὐράνιος ποιήσει ὑμῖν ἐὰν μὴ ἀφῆτε ἕκαστος τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν καρδιῶν ⸀ὑμῶν.
So also my heavenly Father will do to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from your hearts.”
From your hearts — the last words turn the parable back on the hearers.
pronoun my = Jesus
pronoun you = the disciples — the last “your” is the disciples
pronoun his = each of you
pronoun your = the disciples