The Unmerciful Servant

The words

Matthew 18:21–35 (opens a new tab)

1. Certain King

   A king settling accounts with his servants opens Jesus’s parable. The NET calls them slaves; when the first cannot pay, the king orders him, his wife, children and possessions sold.

   Matthew 18:23–25 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Matthew 18 (opens a new tab)

2. Debt

   After the first servant pleads for patience, the king releases him and forgives the debt. The servant later refuses his fellow servant’s plea and has him imprisoned until the smaller debt is paid.

   Matthew 18:26–30 (opens a new tab)

3. Desiredst

   Asked or begged.

   The king reminds the first servant that he forgave the debt because the servant had asked him. Desiredst points back to that earlier plea for patience; the NET uses begged.

   Matthew 18:26, 32 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Matthew 18 (opens a new tab)

4. Fellowservant

   Another servant of the same master.

   The fellow servant owes the released debtor a hundred pence, identified as a hundred denarii in the NET note. His plea echoes the first servant’s, but he receives imprisonment instead of mercy.

   Matthew 18:28–30 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Matthew 18 (opens a new tab)

5. Owest

   Owe; are indebted for.

   The first servant demands that his fellow servant pay what he owes, even after his own release. Matthew puts the demand alongside his seizure of the man by the throat.

   Matthew 18:27–28 (opens a new tab)

6. Patience

   Both debtors ask for patience and promise to repay everything. The king responds to the first plea with compassion and forgiveness; the first servant refuses the second plea and imprisons his fellow servant.

   Matthew 18:26–30 (opens a new tab)

7. Payment

   Matthew first mentions payment when the king orders the servant who cannot pay, his family and possessions sold. After the servant’s plea, the king releases him and forgives the debt instead.

   Matthew 18:25–27 (opens a new tab)

8. Pity

   The king asks why the servant did not show his fellow servant compassion like the pity he himself received. That question follows the other servants’ report of the man’s treatment.

   Matthew 18:31–33 (opens a new tab)

9. Reckon

   Settle accounts.

   The king begins to reckon when the first debtor is brought before him owing ten thousand talents. This accounting opens the parable that follows Peter’s question about forgiveness.

   Matthew 18:21–24 (opens a new tab)

10. Seven Times

    Peter asks whether forgiving a brother seven times is enough. Jesus answers with seventy times seven in the KJV; the NET reads seventy-seven and notes the alternative translation.

    Did you know?

    In a separate saying, Luke describes forgiving someone who wrongs another seven times in one day and returns each time saying he repents. Matthew’s question does not specify a single day.

    Matthew 18:21–22 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Matthew 18 (opens a new tab) · Luke 17:3–4 (opens a new tab)

11. Talents

    Large ancient monetary units; here, units of debt.

    Matthew gives the first servant’s debt in talents. The NET note describes a talent as a monetary unit worth about 6,000 denarii, explaining the scale behind the printed comparison.

    Matthew 18:24 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Matthew 18 (opens a new tab)

12. Ten Thousand

    Ten thousand measures the talents owed to the king, not the smaller debt owed by the fellow servant. Matthew later gives that second obligation as a hundred pence.

    Matthew 18:24, 28 (opens a new tab)

13. Throat

    Released from his own debt, the first servant seizes his fellow servant by the throat and demands payment. Matthew places the second man’s plea for patience immediately after this demand.

    Matthew 18:27–29 (opens a new tab)

14. Tormentors

    Torturers; the jailers in the parable’s final punishment.

    After the other servants report what happened, the angry king hands the unforgiving servant to tormentors until he should pay all he owes. The NET note identifies them as torturers.

    Matthew 18:31–34 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Matthew 18 (opens a new tab)

15. Wicked

    The king calls the servant wicked, reminding him of the debt he had forgiven and the compassion he expected in return. Jesus closes with a warning about forgiving from the heart.

    Matthew 18:32–35 (opens a new tab)