Matthew 18:1-17 ▼

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;

14 so it is not [the] will in [the] presence of your Father who is in the heavens that one of these little ones may perish.

15 And if your brother may sin against you, go and show him his fault between you and him alone, if he may hear you, you gained your brother;

16 and if he may not hear, take with you yet one or two, that by the mouth of two witnesses or three every word may stand.

17 And if he may not hear them, say [it] to the assembly, and if also the assembly he may not hear, let him be to you as the heathen man and the tax collector.