Matthew 18:28 kjv
But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
Matthew 18:28 nkjv
"But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!'
Matthew 18:28 niv
"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
Matthew 18:28 esv
But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, 'Pay what you owe.'
Matthew 18:28 nlt
"But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.
Matthew 18 28 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Mt 6:12 | And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. | Connection to the Lord's Prayer, linking personal forgiveness to receiving God's forgiveness. |
| Mt 6:14-15 | For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you... | Direct teaching on the conditionality of receiving divine forgiveness based on our own readiness to forgive others. |
| Mt 18:21-22 | Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me... | Peter's initial question that prompts Jesus' parable about infinite forgiveness. |
| Mt 18:32-35 | Then his master summoned him and said to him, "You wicked servant! I forgave you all that... | The conclusion of the parable, revealing the king's righteous judgment against the unmerciful servant. |
| Lk 6:36 | Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. | Command to mirror God's character of mercy. |
| Lk 6:37 | Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive... | Teaching on extending grace to others to receive grace from God. |
| Lk 7:47 | Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he... | He who is forgiven much, loves much; conversely, he who is forgiven little, loves little. |
| Eph 4:32 | Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. | Exhortation for believers to emulate God's forgiveness towards each other. |
| Col 3:13 | Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other... | Practical instruction for believers within the community to practice forgiveness. |
| Jas 2:13 | For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. | Divine principle that lack of mercy towards others will result in receiving no mercy from God. |
| Php 2:3-4 | Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant... | Principle of considering others, counteracting the self-centeredness of the unmerciful servant. |
| Rom 12:18-20 | If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves... | Calls for kindness and restraint even towards adversaries, contrasting the servant's actions. |
| 1 Jn 4:11 | Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. | The ethical imperative to love and extend kindness based on receiving God's love. |
| Psa 103:8-12 | The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not... | God's abundant mercy and willingness to remove our transgressions, serving as the ultimate example. |
| Isa 43:25 | I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. | God's unilateral and complete forgiveness, which the servant failed to imitate. |
| Neh 9:17 | They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them... | A historical example of Israel's forgetfulness of God's past mercy and their subsequent lack of obedience. |
| Mic 7:18 | Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of... | Affirmation of God's unique and great mercy and readiness to forgive. |
| Prov 28:13 | Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them... | Implies the need for a repentant heart that understands its own need for forgiveness. |
| Jer 31:34 | For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. | God's promise of complete and eternal forgiveness under the New Covenant. |
| Hos 6:6 | For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. | Emphasizes God's priority of mercy and true understanding of His nature over mere ritual. |
| Zech 7:9-10 | Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another... | Prophetic call for justice, kindness, and mercy towards fellow humans, reflecting God's heart. |
| Gal 6:2 | Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. | Exhortation to mutual support and compassion within the Christian community, contrasting choking a fellow. |
Matthew 18 verses
Matthew 18 28 Meaning
Matthew 18:28 depicts a servant who, having just been forgiven an immense debt by his master, immediately encounters a fellow servant who owes him a comparatively tiny sum. Rather than extending the same grace he received, he seizes, chokes, and violently demands payment from his peer. This verse highlights the profound hypocrisy and shocking lack of mercy of the first servant, serving as a critical pivot point in Jesus' parable on forgiveness. It exposes the contradiction of one who has received boundless grace yet withholds a minimal amount from another.
Matthew 18 28 Context
This verse is an integral part of the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:21-35), which Jesus narrates in response to Peter's question about the extent of forgiveness within the community (Matthew 18:21-22). The broader context of Matthew chapter 18 is Jesus' "Discourse on the Church," focusing on kingdom ethics: humility, avoiding causing stumbling, caring for "little ones," church discipline, and fundamentally, the radical nature of forgiveness.
Historically and culturally, debt was a serious matter in ancient Judea. While imprisonment for debt was not common in Jewish law (Deut 24:6,10-13, Lev 25:35-38), it was known under Roman rule. Slavery for debt, or indentured servitude, was also a possibility, though the Jewish Law stipulated a release after six years (Deut 15:12). The immense disproportion between the first servant's debt of "ten thousand talents" (an astronomical sum, essentially unpayable) and his fellow servant's "hundred denarii" (a relatively small sum, perhaps 100 days' wages) is crucial. It highlights the vast difference between God's boundless grace to us and the debts our fellow human beings owe us. The verse serves as a direct polemic against any mindset that rigidly demands strict justice from others while conveniently forgetting the infinite mercy it has received.
Matthew 18 28 Word Analysis
- But: (δέ - de) A conjunction signaling a contrast. It immediately shifts the narrative to the servant's surprising and opposing action, contrasting with the overwhelming forgiveness he just experienced.
- he went out: (ἐξελθὼν - exelthōn) A participle, meaning "having gone out." This implies a swift departure from the master's presence, indicating no time was taken for reflection on the mercy received.
- and found: (εὗρεν - heuren) Active verb, "he found." Suggests he actively sought out or opportunistically came across his fellow servant, perhaps with the intention of recovering his own (minor) debt.
- one of his fellow servants: (ἕνα τῶν συνδούλων - hena tōn syndoulōn)
- fellow servants: (συνδούλων - syndoulōn): Lit. "fellow slave." Emphasizes their equal status as slaves/servants of the same king. Both owed the master; they were in the same predicament regarding the ultimate authority. This underlines the moral obligation to extend grace to someone sharing the same foundational subservience.
- who owed him: (ὃς ὤφειλεν αὐτῷ - hos ōpheilen autō) Implies a clear, existing financial obligation.
- a hundred denarii: (ἑκατὸν δηνάρια - hekaton dēnaria)
- denarii: (δηνάρια - dēnaria): Roman coin, roughly a day's wage for a common laborer. 100 denarii would be approximately three months' wages. While not insignificant for a poor person, it pales in comparison to the ten thousand talents (a talent was an enormous sum, 6000 denarii or more, meaning 10,000 talents would be billions of denarii or several centuries worth of average income). The vast disproportion highlights the servant's egregious lack of perspective.
- and seizing him: (καὶ κρατήσας αὐτόν - kai kratēsas auton)
- seizing: (κρατήσας - kratēsas): A strong verb meaning "to take hold of, lay hold of, grasp firmly." It implies immediate, forceful action, an aggressive and demanding posture.
- he began to choke him: (ἔπνιγεν - epnigen)
- choke: (ἔπνιγεν - epnigen): Imperfect tense, implying he began to choke or was choking him, suggesting an ongoing, violent act. This is physical intimidation and cruelty, vividly demonstrating a lack of compassion and even a murderous intent or oppressive control. It goes beyond merely demanding payment to active assault.
- saying, ‘Pay what you owe!’ (λέγων· Ἀπόδος εἴ τι ὀφείλεις. - legōn: Apodos ei ti opheileis.)
- Pay what you owe! (Apodos ei ti opheileis!): A direct, forceful, and unyielding demand for immediate full repayment. This stands in stark contrast to the servant's own desperate plea and the master's gracious release of his overwhelming debt. It shows a complete failure to learn from the master's generosity.
Matthew 18 28 Bonus Section
The "choking" action highlights the servant's determination to physically extract payment, embodying an attitude of punitive demand rather than compassionate patience. This stands as a stark indictment of spiritual selfishness and underscores that our treatment of others reflects our true understanding and appreciation of God's forgiveness towards us. The parable functions as a serious warning: true discipleship involves mirroring the Master's mercy, not merely receiving it.
Matthew 18 28 Commentary
Matthew 18:28 vividly portrays the immediate and shocking unmercifulness of the servant who had just experienced the profound grace of his master. The scene is deliberately jarring: the same individual who kneeled in desperate supplication for mercy, now acts with extreme aggression towards a fellow servant over a pittance of a debt. His action of "seizing" and "choking" not only signifies physical violence and intimidation but also reveals a profound moral blindness and hardness of heart. He demonstrates an utter failure to grasp the scale of the forgiveness he received (10,000 talents) compared to the small sum owed to him (100 denarii). This contrast exposes the central ethical failure: the inability or unwillingness to extend grace when one has been an overwhelming recipient of it. The verse powerfully underscores Jesus' teaching that those who have received abundant forgiveness from God are ethically obligated to extend forgiveness to others, particularly fellow believers. Failure to do so betrays a shallow understanding of divine mercy and carries grave implications for one's own standing with the Master.