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 18:28)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 18:28:

  • Uma: “‘That slave went out, he met a fellow slave who owed him just thousands. He grabbed hold of his companion, throttled him and he said to him: ‘Pay all your (sing.) debt!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “‘When that servant came outside he met a fellow servant who had a debt to him but a small one. Immediately he caught him and choked him and said, ‘Pay me your debt.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The servant left there, and he met another servant also of the king who owed him a few pesos. And he grabbed him and choked him and said, ‘Pay me what you owe.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘When that official was leaving, he met his fellow official who owed him only a few (lit. how-many) thousands. He immediately-grabbed-him -by-the-neck saying, ‘Pay your (sing.) debt!'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “That one going home hadn’t been walking long when he met up with one of his fellow servants who owed him only the amount of five hundred. He set-on him and grabbed-him-by-the-throat, at the same time saying, ‘Go on, pay your debt to me now!'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But this worker who was forgiven what he owed, no sooner was he freed when he met another person who owed him a little bit of money. He grabbed him and choked his neck. He said: ‘You pay me my money you owe me, or else,’ he said.” (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 18:28

The Revised Standard Version text continues with But, which Good News Translation has rendered as “Then.” Translators should use whatever fits naturally in the context. Some have had “But as that official was going out.”

Presumably the official went out from the king’s palace or house, and in some translations it will be necessary to indicate that.

Came upon is best taken to indicate a chance meeting.

A hundred denarii (a denarius was the daily wage paid a laborer) is transformed into contemporary U.S. currency by Good News Translation (“a few dollars”). When a comparison is made between the value of the talent and the denarius, one discovers that the debt which the first servant owed the king is 500,000 times more than the debt owed him by his fellow servant. New American Bible does an excellent job at contrasting the two debts without indicating any specific monetary unit: “who owed him a huge amount” (verse 24) and “who owed him a mere fraction of what he himself owed” (verse 28).

Before translating a hundred denarii, translators should read again what was said at verse 24 about money. Again, some translators will keep the biblical word and have “a small amount of money, one hundred denarii,” or simply do the same thing that Revised Standard Version has done and use a footnote. New American Bible, cited above, is an excellent model, and many translators have had “a small portion of the money he had owed the king” or “a hundred denarii, money that was almost nothing when compared to what the king had forgiven him.” Again, there are problems if translators try to use a local modern currency.

Seizing … by the throat translates two verbs in Greek (Good News Translation “grabbed … started choking”) which may be understood as depicting either a single action or two separate actions. An American Translation (“he caught him by the throat”) indicates a single action, as do Moffatt and Barclay. On the other hand, New English Bible suggests two actions in sequence: “and catching hold of him he gripped him by the throat”; similarly New Jerusalem Bible “he seized him by the throat and began to throttle him.” Since either interpretation is possible on the basis of the Greek text, it is advisable in translation to do whatever seems the most dramatic.

Pay what you owe will require an indirect object in some languages (Good News Translation “Pay back what you owe me”). One may also translate “Pay me the money that you owe me” or “… that you borrowed from me.”

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 .