Matthew 18:1-13 ▼

1 At that hour the disciples came near to Jesus, saying, “Who, now, is greater in the kingdom of the heavens?”

2 And Jesus having called near a child, set him in the midst of them,

3 and said, “Truly I say to you, if you may not be turned and become as the children, you may not enter into the kingdom of the heavens;

4 whoever then may humble himself as this child, he is the greater in the kingdom of the heavens.

5 And he who may receive one such child in My Name, receives Me,

6 and whoever may cause to stumble one of those little ones who are believing in Me, it is better for him that a weighty millstone may be hanged on his neck, and he may be sunk in the depth of the sea.

7 Woe to the world from the stumbling-blocks! For there is necessity for the stumbling-blocks to come, but woe to that man through whom the stumbling-block comes!

8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut them off and cast [them] from you; it is good for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the continuous fire.

9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast from you; it is good for you to enter into life one-eyed, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire.

10 Beware! You may not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their messengers in the heavens always behold the face of My Father who is in the heavens,

11 [[for the Son of Man came to save the lost.]]

12 What do you think? If a man may have one hundred sheep, and there may go astray one of them, does he not—having left the ninety-nine, having gone on the mountains—seek that which is gone astray?

13 And if it may come to pass that he finds it, truly I say to you that he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that have not gone astray;