Matthew 18

1 Jesus said, “If another Christian does something wrong to you, then you have to go to them and talk about it. Just the 2 of you can talk about it together, while you are alone. If they listen to you and agree with you, then you can call them your Christian friend again.⋮

2 But if they don’t want to listen to you, take one or 2 other people with you and go to them. These other people will hear about the wrong things your friend did, and they will hear what you say to your friend. They will find out what is true.⋮

3 If your friend will not listen to all of you, go to the church, and tell the people in the church what happened, and let them sort it out and talk to your friend. If your friend doesn’t want to listen to them, you can stop being their friend. They are like somebody that doesn’t know God, or like somebody that doesn’t do what God says.”⋮

4 Then Jesus said, “Listen. This is true. You Christians in the church are the ones that will know what God wants. If you all agree that something here on this earth is wrong, it will be something that God in heaven already said is wrong. And if you all agree that something here on this earth is all right, it will be something that God in heaven already said is all right.⋮

5 I’ll tell you this again. If you agree together about something, even if it is only 2 of you, and then you ask my Father in heaven to do that thing, he will do it for you.⋮

6 You see, if you get together to respect me I will be right there with you, even if it is only a few of you, or only 2 or 3 of you at that time.”⋮

7 Then Peter came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, if my friend is always doing wrong things to me, how many times do I have to let it go and not pay him back? If I let it go 7 times, is that enough? Then if he does another wrong thing I can pay him back, right?”⋮

8 Jesus said, “No, not 7 times, but I say lots of times, like 77 times.”⋮

9 Then Jesus told them a story. He said, “I will tell you a picture story to show you the way it is in God’s family. There was a big boss that wanted to check up on his workers. Some of them borrowed money from him, and he wanted them to give it back.⋮

10 So that big boss started to check up on them, and he got his soldiers to bring those workers to him. They brought a worker that borrowed a real lot of money, like millions of dollars, and the boss said, ‘Give me that money now.’⋮

11 The worker said, ‘No, not yet. I haven’t got any money right now.’ The big boss wanted to get something back, so he told his soldiers, ‘Grab this man, and his wife, and his kids, and make them like prisoners. They will work for no pay. Grab all their things too. I’ll keep them.’⋮

12 Then the worker went down on his knees in front of the big boss and said to him, ‘Please, please give me more time, then I will give you back all your money.’⋮

13 Then the big boss felt sorry for his worker, and he changed his mind, and he said, ‘All right. You don’t have to give that money back to me. You can go free now.’⋮

14 But after that, his worker went away, and he met another man. Before this time that other man borrowed a little bit of money from this worker, just 100 dollars. So the worker grabbed that other man’s neck and said, ‘Give me back that money right now. It’s my money.’⋮

15 That other man went down on his knees and said, ‘Please, please give me more time. Then I will give you back your money.’⋮

16 But the worker said, ‘No way. I will not forget what you owe me.’ And he put that man in jail, and he told the boss of the jail to keep him there till he gives back all of that money.⋮

17 Some of the other workers saw what happened, and they were not happy about it. So they went to the big boss and told him all about it.⋮

18 Then the big boss got the worker to come in, and said to him, ‘You are really bad. You asked me to forget about all my money that you borrowed. It was millions of dollars. And I was good to you. I said you didn’t have to give it back to me.⋮

19 So you have to be good to that other man, just like I was good to you.’⋮

20 The big boss was really angry, and he told the soldiers to grab that worker, to beat him up, and to put him in jail. He will stay there till he can give all that money back to the big boss.”⋮

21 Then Jesus finished the story and he said, “You have to be good to your friends. If they do wrong to you, don’t do payback to them. Then, in the same way, my Father in heaven will not do payback to you.”⋮