Translation commentary on Matthew 18:21

Came up can be “approached” or “went up.”

Him is identified by name in Good News Translation: (“Jesus”), since a new section opens here.

Lord, how often … and I forgive him represents the form of the Greek sentence. Both New English Bible (“Lord, how often am I to forgive my brother if he goes on wronging me?”) and New Jerusalem Bible (“Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me?”) invert the order of the two clauses. Some languages will prefer the order of the Greek sentence, because the clauses are in a logical and chronological arrangement. Some translators have said “Lord, how many times do I have to forgive my brother for the sins he does against me?” and others have followed the text a little more closely with “Lord, how many times can my brother sin against me and I still forgive him?” or “Lord, for how many of my brother’s sins against me should I forgive him?” Another rendering is “Lord, if my brother keeps on sinning against me, for how many of these sins should I continue forgiving him?”

Lord was discussed at 8.2. Here the Christian sense of “Lord” will be most appropriate.

By brother Peter does not mean his sibling but either “fellow man,” as in Barclay, or “fellow believer.” The latter seems to fit better in this passage, as we explained above.

Sin against me will not be correct in those languages where the term sin is used exclusively in the context of doing something against God. “Do wrong to me” or “do evil against me” will be better.

Forgive was discussed at 6.12. In some languages people can forgive another person’s actions, and in other languages they can forgive the people. Still others even require the full form, that is, forgiving other people their actions. Thus forgive him can also be “forgive him his sins” or “forgive his bad deeds.”

As many as seven times? is literally “until seven?” Many languages will require the explicit mention of a subject and predicate: “Must I forgive him as many as seven times?”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Matthew 18:21



Section 18:21–35

Jesus told a parable about a servant who did not forgive

In this section, Jesus continued to talk about relationships among believers. He did this by telling a parable about a servant and a king. The king canceled the servant’s large debt. But the servant refused to cancel the small debt of his fellow servant. As a result the king punished the servant.

Jesus told this parable to show us that God has forgiven our many sins. So we should forgive the few sins that other people commit against us. If we do not forgive others, God will not forgive us.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

The parable of the servant who refused to forgive
-or-
The necessity for forgiveness (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

Paragraph 18:21–22

18:21a

Then: This word indicates that the events in this section happened sometime after the events in the previous paragraph. It does not necessarily mean that they happened immediately after it.

Here is another way to translate this word:

After that

Peter came to: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as came to simply means that Peter “came up to” or “came over to” Jesus.

Here are some other ways to translate these words:

Peter came up (English Standard Version)
-or-
Peter approached him (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

and asked: The Greek and some other English Bible versions have the pronoun “him” after this phrase, but the Berean Standard Bible lives it untranslated. This pronoun refers to Jesus. Since this is at the beginning of a new section, it may be natural in some languages to make this explicit. For example:

and asked Jesus

18:21b

Lord: This word means “owner,” “master,” or “ruler.” It refers to someone who has authority over people or things. Peter used it to address Jesus because he was Jesus’ disciple.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

Sir
-or-
Master (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

This word last occurred in 17:15a.

how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me?:
Peter asked this question to find out how many times he must forgive a person who repeatedly sinned against him. He probably thought that to forgive someone as many as seven times was a lot.

In some languages, it will be more natural to change the order of some of the words in this question. For example:

how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
if my brother keeps on sinning against me, how many times do I have to forgive him? (Good News Translation)
-or-
when my fellow believer sins against me, how many times must I forgive him? (New Century Version)

how many times: Here is another way to translate this:

how often (English Standard Version)

I forgive: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as forgive means “let go” or “cancel.” It refers to canceling any revenge or demand for compensation. It refers to letting go of any anger about the wrong.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

cancel the debt from my brother’s sin against me
-or-
will not hold my fellow believer’s sin against him

my brother: This phrase refers to another Christian, whether male or female. It does not only refer to Peter’s male sibling.

Here is another way to translate this phrase:

a fellow believer

who sins against me: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as sins against also occurs in 18:15a. Translate it the same way in both places. For example:

wrong me (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
does something wrong/bad to me
-or-
does evil to/against me

18:21c

Up to seven times?: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Up to can also be translated as “as many as” or “until.” Peter wondered if there were a maximum number of times he must forgive someone who sinned against him. He thought that it might be Up to seven times. This probably seemed like a large number of times to him.

Here is another way to translate this clause:

As many as seven times? (English Standard Version)

Some words are implied but not repeated here. The complete clause would be:

⌊Must I forgive him⌋ up to seven times?

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