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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Mat C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28
Mat 18 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23 V24 V25 V26 V27 V28 V29 V31 V32 V33 V34 V35
OET (OET-LV) And which he_was_ not _willing, but having_gone_away, he_throw him into prison, until he_may_give_back the thing being_owed.
OET (OET-RV) But the other wasn’t willing, and he went and had the man thrown into prison until he repaid what he owed.
In this section, Jesus continued to talk about relationships among believers. He did this by telling a parable about a servant and a king. The king canceled the servant’s large debt. But the servant refused to cancel the small debt of his fellow servant. As a result the king punished the servant.
Jesus told this parable to show us that God has forgiven our many sins. So we should forgive the few sins that other people commit against us. If we do not forgive others, God will not forgive us.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
The parable of the servant who refused to forgive
The necessity for forgiveness (JBP)
But he refused.
But the first servant refused to be patient. (NCV)
But he was not willing to wait.
There is a contrast here. The contrast is between the way that the king treated the first servant, and the way that the first servant treated the second servant. The BSB and some English versions indicate this contrast with the conjunction “But.” For example:
But (NIV)
Other English versions let the context suggest the connection. You should do what is most natural in your language.
But he refused: The Greek clause that the BSB translates as But he refused is more literally “He was not willing” (as in the NASB). The first servant was not willing to do what the second servant begged him to do.
In some languages, it may be more natural to make explicit the thing that was refused. For example:
he refused the request
the first servant refused to be patient (NCV)
he was not willing to wait
Instead, he went and had the man thrown into prison
Instead, he went and caused the man to be thrown into prison
Rather, he went and told the officials/police, and they threw him into prison
Instead: The Greek conjunction that the BSB here translates as Instead occurs when a pair of clauses is related, and the first clause contains a negative term (“refused,” in 18:30a ) or the word “not.” (In this case, 18:30a is the first clause. It is literally “He was not willing.”)
Here are some other ways to introduce this clause:
then (NRSV)
In some languages, no conjunction is necessary here. This is what the NCV does. For example:
30aBut the first servant refused to be patient. 30bHe threw the other servant into prison until he could pay everything he owed.
he went and had the man thrown into prison: The Greek verb that the BSB translates as thrown is more literally “throw.” It refers to an action with force.
The first servant did not throw the second one into prison himself. Rather, he went to the authorities, told them what happened, and asked them to throw him in prison/jail.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
he had him thrown into prison (NJB)
he went and asked the authorities to throw him in prison/jail
until he could pay his debt.
until he/someone paid back the money.
for as long as he did not give/reimburse the money that he owed.
until he could pay his debt: In that time, someone with a debt that he could not pay, or refused to pay, could be put in prison. It was expected that his family or friends would then pay off the debt in order to release him.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
until someone paid off the debt
until the day that he reimbursed the money
for as long as he had not paid all the money that he owed
Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-contrast
δὲ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὁ Δέ οὐκ ἤθελεν ἀλλά ἀπελθών ἔβαλεν αὐτόν εἰς φυλακήν ἕως ἀποδῷ τό ὀφειλόμενον)
Here, the word But introduces what the first slave did in contrast to what the other slave asked (see [18:29](../18/29.md)). If it would be helpful in your language, you could use another word or phrase that introduces a contrast, or you could leave But untranslated. Alternate translation: [Despite that,]
Note 2 topic: writing-pronouns
ὁ & οὐκ ἤθελεν & ἔβαλεν αὐτὸν & ἀποδῷ
¬which & not ˱he˲_˓was˒_willing & ˱he˲_cast (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὁ Δέ οὐκ ἤθελεν ἀλλά ἀπελθών ἔβαλεν αὐτόν εἰς φυλακήν ἕως ἀποδῷ τό ὀφειλόμενον)
Here, the pronoun he in the phrase he was not willing and the pronoun he in the phrase he threw refer to the first slave. The pronoun him and the pronoun he in the phrase he might repay refer to his fellow slave. If it would be helpful in your language, you could refer to these people more directly. Alternate translation: [the first slave was not willing … he threw his fellow slave … his fellow slave might repay]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
οὐκ ἤθελεν
not ˱he˲_˓was˒_willing
Here Jesus implies that the first slave was not willing to be patient and wait for the other slave to pay him back. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [was not willing to have patience]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / go
ἀπελθὼν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὁ Δέ οὐκ ἤθελεν ἀλλά ἀπελθών ἔβαλεν αὐτόν εἰς φυλακήν ἕως ἀποδῷ τό ὀφειλόμενον)
In a context such as this, your language might say “come” instead of gone. Alternate translation: [having come away]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom
ἔβαλεν αὐτὸν εἰς φυλακὴν
˱he˲_cast (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὁ Δέ οὐκ ἤθελεν ἀλλά ἀπελθών ἔβαλεν αὐτόν εἰς φυλακήν ἕως ἀποδῷ τό ὀφειλόμενον)
Here, the phrase he threw him into prison refers to locking someone up in prison. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a comparable phrase or state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [he put him into prison] or [he locked him up in prison]
Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ἔβαλεν αὐτὸν
˱he˲_cast (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὁ Δέ οὐκ ἤθελεν ἀλλά ἀπελθών ἔβαλεν αὐτόν εἰς φυλακήν ἕως ἀποδῷ τό ὀφειλόμενον)
Here Jesus implies that the slave sent someone else to do this. If it would be helpful in your language, you could make this idea more explicit. Alternate translation: [he had people throw him]
Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
τὸ ὀφειλόμενον
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὁ Δέ οὐκ ἤθελεν ἀλλά ἀπελθών ἔβαλεν αὐτόν εἰς φυλακήν ἕως ἀποδῷ τό ὀφειλόμενον)
If your language does not use this passive form, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. If you need to say who did the action, it is clear from the context that it was the fellow slave. Alternate translation: [what he owed]
18:1-35 This fourth major discourse in Matthew (see study note on Matt 5:1–7:29) focuses on responses to the Messiah—acceptance by the disciples and rejection by the Jewish leaders and most of the populace. In light of this growing polarization, Jesus began to instruct his followers on the nature of community life. For a community to live according to Jesus’ standards, it must live with humility (18:1-5), sensitivity (18:6-9), compassion (18:10-14), discipline (18:15-18), and forgiveness (18:21-35). As with the other discourses, a concluding formula (19:1-2) bridges to the next section.
OET (OET-LV) And which he_was_ not _willing, but having_gone_away, he_throw him into prison, until he_may_give_back the thing being_owed.
OET (OET-RV) But the other wasn’t willing, and he went and had the man thrown into prison until he repaid what he owed.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.