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.

mercy

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin terms that are typically translated as “mercy” (or “compassion” or “kindness”) in English are translated in various ways. Bratcher / Nida classify them in (1) those based on the quality of heart, or other psychological center, (2) those which introduce the concept of weeping or extreme sorrow, (3) those which involve willingness to look upon and recognize the condition of others, or (4) those which involve a variety of intense feelings.

While the English mercy originates from the Latin merces, originally “price paid,” Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, Corsican, Catalan, Friulian) and other Germanic languages (German, Swedish, Danish — Barmherzigkeit, barmhärtighet and barmhjertighed, respectively) tend to follow the Latin misericordia, lit. “misery-heart.”

Here are some other (back-) translations:

See also steadfast love and Seat of the Mind / Seat of Emotions.

self-referencing pronoun for king or queen

In Malay, the pronoun beta for the royal “I” (or “my” or “me”) that is used by royals when speaking to people of lower rank, subordinates or commoners to refer to themselves in these verses. This reflects the “language of the court because the monarchy and sultanate in Malaysia are still alive and well. All oral and printed literature (including newspapers and magazines) preserve and glorify the language of the court. Considering that the language of the court is part of the Malaysian language, court language is used sparingly where appropriate, specifically with texts relating to palace life.” (Source: Daud Soesilo in The Bible Translator 2025, p. 263ff.)

complete verse (Matthew 18:33)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 18:33:

  • Uma: “Why-in-the-world did you (sing.) not love/pity your (sing.) fellow slave, like I loved/pitied you (sing.)!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “You should have also had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Now why didn’t you pity your fellow servant like I pitied you?'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Why didn’t you (sing.) pity your (sing.) fellow official like the way I did to you (sing.)?'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well, I had mercy on you. Well, why didn’t you have mercy on that fellow servant of yours?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Couldn’t you have forgiven your friend who owed you, like I forgave you?’ he said.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

2nd person pronoun with low register (Japanese)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.

In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.

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 18:33

This verse is in a real sense the key to the entire parable: those persons whose debt of sin God has forgiven are obligated in return to forgive the sins that others commit against them.

And should not you have…? is more literally “and was it not necessary for you to have…?” Since this type of structure is extremely difficult for English speakers, Good News Translation has made three adjustments in hopes of relieving the difficulty: (1) the rhetorical question is changed to a statement; (2) the negative form is altered to a positive; and (3) the impersonal structure (“was it not necessary for you”) is made into a second person form (“You should have had mercy”). The verb translated should … have (literally “it was necessary”) normally indicates a binding compulsion or obligation; see, for example, its usage in Luke 2.49; 15.32; 18.1; Acts 5.29; 1 Thessalonians 4.1; Titus 1.11.

In other languages it has still been possible to retain a question in rendering the sentence, as for example in “And so what should you have done? You should have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you.” Another example is “You should have had mercy on your fellow servant as I did on you, shouldn’t you?”

That the verb had mercy on is used twice in this verse emphasizes the importance attached to it. For some languages the two clauses may more naturally be reversed: “I had mercy on you, and that is why you should have had mercy on your fellow servant.”

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 18:33



18:33

This verse is a rhetorical question. The king used this rhetorical question to rebuke the servant.

Here are some other ways to translate this rebuke:

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you? (New Living Translation (2004))

• As a tag question. For example:

You should have mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you, should you not?

• As a statement followed by a “why” question. For example:

I had mercy on you. Why did you not have mercy on your fellow servant?

• As a statement. For example:

You should have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you. (Good News Translation)
-or-
I had mercy on you. ⌊So⌋ you should also have mercy on your fellow servant.

Translate this rebuke in a way that is most natural in your language.

18:33a

Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Shouldn’t you includes a verb that is often translated “it is necessary.” In this context, it indicates what is the servant’s duty.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

you must have mercy on your fellow servant
-or-
you are required/obligated to have mercy on your fellow servant

have had mercy on: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as have…mercy on means “pity” someone,” or “have compassion” on someone because of their condition. For example:

show pity (Contemporary English Version)

18:33b

just as I had on you: The verb had is the same verb as “had mercy” in 18:33a. The king expected the servant to pity his fellow servant as the king had pitied him.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

like I pitied you

-or-

like the way that I did to you

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