MAT 18:22 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=small word differences Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) [ref]“I won’t say seven times,” Yeshua answered, “but seventy times seven times!

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, pink:genitive/possessor, cyan:dative/indirect object, red:negative.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT Jesus says to him, “I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to 77 times.

UST Jesus replied, “I tell you that you must forgive others 77 times and more, not just seven times.”

18:22 Or seventy times seven; see Genesis 4:24 LXX

18:22 Or seventy times seven; see Genesis 4:24 LXX.

BLB Jesus says to him, "I say to you not up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven!

AICNT Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

OEB But Jesus answered, ‘Not seven times, but seventy times seven.

WEBBE Jesus said to him, “I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.

WMBB Yeshua said to him, “I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.

NET Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy-seven times!

LSV Jesus says to him, “I do not say to you until seven times, but until seventy times seven.

FBV “No, not seven times. I would say seventy times seven!” Jesus told him.

TCNT Jesus said to him, “Not, I tell yoʋ, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

T4T Jesus said to him, “I tell you that the number of times you must forgive someone is not just up to seven, but you must ◄forgive him 77 times/never stop forgiving him►.

LEB Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven![fn]

18:22 Or “seventy-seven times”

BBE Jesus says to him, I say not to you, Till seven times; but, Till seventy times seven.

Moff Jesus said to him, "Seven times? I say, seventy times seven!

Wymth "I do not say seven times," answered Jesus, "but seventy times seven times.

ASV Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven.

DRA Jesus saith to him: I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times.

YLT Jesus saith to him, 'I do not say to thee till seven times, but till seventy times seven.

Drby Jesus says to him, I say not to thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven.

RV Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven.
(Jesus saith/says unto him, I say not unto thee/you, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven. )

SLT And Jesus says to him, I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven.

Wbstr Jesus saith to him, I say not to thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

KJB-1769 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
(Jesus saith/says unto him, I say not unto thee/you, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. )

KJB-1611 Iesus saith vnto him, I say not vnto thee, Untill seuen times: but, Untill seuentie times seuen.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above)

Bshps Iesus sayth vnto hym, I say not vnto thee vntyll seuen tymes: but, vntyll seuentie tymes seuen.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from capitalisation and punctuation)

Gnva Iesus said vnto him, I say not to thee, Vnto seuen times, but, Vnto seuentie times seuen times.
(Yesus/Yeshua said unto him, I say not to thee/you, Unto seven times, but, Unto seventy times seven times. )

Cvdl Iesus saide vnto hi: I saye not vnto ye seue tymes, but seuetie tymes seuen tymes.
(Yesus/Yeshua said unto him: I say not unto ye/you_all seven times, but seventie times seven times.)

TNT Iesus sayd vnto him: I saye not vnto the seven tymes: but seventy tymes seventymes.
(Yesus/Yeshua said unto him: I say not unto the seven times: but seventy times seventymes. )

Wycl Whether til seuen tymes? Jhesus seith to hym, Y seie not to thee, til seuene sithis; but til seuenti sithis seuene sithis.
(Whether till seven times? Yhesus saith/says to him, I say not to thee/you, till seven sithis; but till seventy sithis seven sithis.)

Luth JEsus sprach zu ihm: Ich sage dir, nicht siebenmal, sondern siebenzigmal siebenmal.
(Yesus spoke to/for him: I said you/to_you(sg), not seven_times, rather seventymal seven_times.)

ClVg Dicit illi Jesus: Non dico tibi usque septies: sed usque septuagies septies.
(Sayit them Yesus: Not/No I_mean/say to_you until seven_times: but until septuagies seven_times. )

UGNT λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, οὐ λέγω σοι ἕως ἑπτάκις, ἀλλὰ ἕως ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά!
(legei autōi ho Yaʸsous, ou legō soi heōs heptakis, alla heōs hebdomaʸkontakis hepta!)

SBL-GNT λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Οὐ λέγω σοι ἕως ἑπτάκις ἀλλὰ ἕως ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά.
(legei autōi ho Yaʸsous; Ou legō soi heōs heptakis alla heōs hebdomaʸkontakis hepta.)

RP-GNT Λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Οὐ λέγω σοι ἕως ἑπτάκις, ἀλλ' ἕως ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά.
(Legei autōi ho Yaʸsous, Ou legō soi heōs heptakis, all' heōs hebdomaʸkontakis hepta.)

TC-GNT Λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Οὐ λέγω σοι ἕως ἑπτάκις, [fn]ἀλλ᾽ ἕως ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά.
(Legei autōi ho Yaʸsous, Ou legō soi heōs heptakis, all heōs hebdomaʸkontakis hepta. )

18:22 αλλ ¦ αλλα NA²⁷ SBL TH WH

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs, red:words differ (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 18:21–35: Jesus told a parable about a servant who did not forgive

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)

18:22a

Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times,

Jesus said to Peter, “I tell you, not only/just seven times,
Jesus answered, “I tell you that you should forgive him not just up to seven times,
Jesus said, “No, not just 7 times.

I tell you, not just seven times: This clause is Jesus’ reply to Peter’s question. Jesus understood why Peter asked his question. He knew that Peter probably expected the answer that seven was a good limit. So Jesus started by denying what Peter expected him to say.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

I say to you, not just seven times (GW)

Not just seven times (CEV)

No, not seven times (NLT)

Some words are implied but not repeated here. The complete clause would be:

I tell you, you must forgive him not just seven times.

I tell you, you must forgive him more than seven times. (NCV)

18:22b

but seventy-seven times!

instead you should forgive him up to seventy-seven times.”
You should forgive him 77 times.”

but: There is a contrast here. The contrast is between “not seven times,” and “seventy times seven.” Languages have different ways to indicate this negative-positive type of contrast. Some of the ways are:

With the conjunction but.
With a conjunction other than but. This is a common way in English to show this type of contrast. For example:
rather
Instead
With no conjunction. For example:
Not seven times. Seventy times seven.

seventy-seven times: There are two ways to interpret the Greek phrase that the BSB translates as seventy-seven times:

It is the number 77. For example:
seventy-seven times (NRSV) (BSB, NRSV, NIV, NET, NJB, NABRE, CEV, NCV)
It means 70 x 7. This would be 490 times. For example:
seventy times seven (RSV) (RSV, ESV, NASB, REB, KJV, NLT, GNT, JBP, GW)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). This same Greek phrase occurs in the ancient Greek translation of Genesis 4:24. There, the number in the original Hebrew is clearly the number 77.

It is also recommended that you put one interpretation in the text and the other interpretation in a footnote. Here is a sample footnote:

Or seventy times seven (490). Either way, Jesus meant a huge number of times to forgive.

Some words are implied but not repeated here. The complete clause would be:

you should forgive him seventy-seven times

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: translate-tense

λέγει

˓is˒_saying

To call attention to a development in the story, Matthew uses the present tense in past narration. If it would not be natural to do that in your language, you could use the past tense in your translation. Alternate translation: [said]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / infostructure

οὐ λέγω σοι ἕως ἑπτάκις, ἀλλὰ ἕως ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: λέγει αὐτῷ Ὁ Ἰησοῦς Οὒ λέγω σοί ἕως ἑπτάκις ἀλλά ἕως ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά)

If your language would not naturally put the negative statement before the positive statement, you could reverse the two clauses here. Alternate translation: [I say to you up to 77 times, not up to seven times]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis

ἕως ἑπτάκις, ἀλλὰ ἕως ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά

up_to seven_times up_to (Some words not found in SR-GNT: λέγει αὐτῷ Ὁ Ἰησοῦς Οὒ λέγω σοί ἕως ἑπτάκις ἀλλά ἕως ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά)

Jesus is leaving out some of the words that in many languages a sentence would need in order to be complete. You could supply these words from the previous verse if it would be clearer in your language. Alternate translation: [that you should forgive your brother up to seven times, but that you should forgive him up to 77 times]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά

seventy_times seven

Here Jesus uses the large number 77 to indicate that Peter and all believers must always forgive other people. Jesus does not mean to count up to 77 and then stop forgiving other people. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [77 times and beyond] or [77 times, by which I mean always]

Parallel MAT 18:22

Section 18:21–35: Jesus told a parable about a servant who did not forgive

18:22a

18:22b