sell

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “sell” in English is translated in Noongar as wort-bangal or “away-barter.” Note that “buy” is translated as bangal-barranga or “get-barter.” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)

See also buy and buying / selling.

The Unforgiving Servant

Following is a 1973 painting of the JESUS MAFA project, a response to New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings was selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings:

From Art in the Christian Tradition , a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. Image retrieved March 23, 2026. Original source: librairie-emmanuel.fr.

complete verse (Matthew 18:25)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 18:25:

  • Uma: “He really was not able to pay that debt. So, that king ordered, he said: ‘Just sell that slave with his children and his wife and all his stuff, pay-with-it [i.e., the money received] his debts.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then his money was not enough to pay his debt. Therefore the sultan commanded that the man should be sold as a slave including his wife and children and he commanded also that all his possessions should be sold in order to pay for his debt.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And he cannot pay, so the king commanded that this person be sold as a slave along with his wife and his children and all his possessions, so that the debt might be paid.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “That official couldn’t-pay, so the king commanded that all his possessions be sold, and that he, his wife and their children be sold also to become slaves so that his debt would be paid.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well, since he couldn’t pay, the king ordered that he just be sold, along with his wife and their children, and all their possessions so that he could pay.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But this worker who was brought to him didn’t have the money to pay his account. The king ordered that the worker be sold, and his wife be sold, and his children be sold, and there should be sold what all he owned in order to pay the account.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Scriptures Plain & Simple (Matthew 18:21-35)

Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Matthew 18:21-35:

“Forgiveness times seven is surely enough
       to offer anyone who offends me,” said Peter.

“Try seven times that amount!” answered Jesus,
“and listen to this story about the Ultimate Kingdom.”

       The CEO of a big corporation called in his employees
              to account for their use of the company funds.
       One of them came up fifty million dollars short,
              and he was broke.

       “His wife and children are just as guilty,” said the CEO.
       “Lock all of them up and throw away the key,
               until he pays back every cent he owes.”

       But the man begged for mercy
       and swore he’d repay every cent.
              So the soft-hearted CEO forgave his debt.

       On the way out of the office, the man happened to meet
              an office boy who owed him a measly fifty bucks.
       With his hands around the throat of he boy, he shouted,
              “Pay me every cent you owe!”

       The boy begged for mercy and swore to repay every cent.
       But there was no mercy, and the boy was thrown into jail
              until he could repay the full amount.

       Some other employees found out what had happened,
       and they reported the matter to the CEO,
              who called the man in and said, “You’re evil!
       When you begged for mercy, I forgave every penny.
              Isn’t that what you should have done for this boy?
       I’ll have your hide for this!
       You, your wife, and your family of four
              will perish impoverished in prison.”

“Listen up!” exclaimed Jesus.
“If you don’t forgive others with all your heart,
       my Father above will treat you like this.”

Translation commentary on Matthew 18:25

He could not pay can be expressed as “he did not have the money to pay the debt” or “he was unable to repay.” It may be necessary to add an indirect object, as “repay his master” or “pay the king the money he owed him.”

His lord in this context means “his master” or “the king.”

Ordered him to be sold is represented in Good News Translation as “ordered him to be sold as a slave,” which makes the meaning immediately obvious for the reader. The man and everything he owned were to be sold as compensation for the debt. This action is purely for the sake of revenge on the part of the king, since even at the highest value of slaves the total amount would have still been insignificant as compared with the monstrous debt of verse 24.

This last part of the verse may need to be restructured, as in “his master ordered that the man and his wife and children be sold as slaves and that everything he owned also be sold in order to pay the debt” or “the king ordered his people to take the man and his wife and children and sell them as slaves, and also to sell the man’s possessions. This money would be used to pay off the debt.”

The severity of the punishment is thereby in keeping with the enormity of the debt. According to the Jewish Law, a man could not be sold except in the case of theft. And the sale of a man’s wife was strictly forbidden. So Jesus draws upon an illustration from a non-Jewish setting to underscore the severity of the punishment. Both the magnitude of the debt and the enormity of the punishment are intended to stagger the imagination.

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 .