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.

anger

Click here to view graphically

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “anger” or similar in English in this verse is translated with a variety of solutions (Bratcher / Nida says: “Since anger has so many manifestations and seems to affect so many aspects of personality, it is not strange that expressions used to describe this emotional response are so varied”).

  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “be warm inside”
  • Mende: “have a cut heart”
  • Mískito: “have a split heart”
  • Tzotzil: “have a hot heart”
  • Mossi: “a swollen heart”
  • Western Kanjobal: “fire of the viscera”
  • San Blas Kuna: “pain in the heart”
  • Chimborazo Highland Quichua: “not with good eye”
  • Chichewa: “have a burning heart” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) (see also anger burned in him)
  • Citak: two different terms, one meaning “angry” and one meaning “offended,” both are actually descriptions of facial expressions. The former can be represented by an angry stretching of the eyes or by an angry frown. The latter is similarly expressed by an offended type of frown with one’s head lowered. (Source: Graham Ogden)

In Akan, a number of metaphors are used, most importantly abufuo, lit. “weedy chest” (the chest is seen as a container that contains the heart but can also metaphorically be filled with other fluids etc.), but also abufuhyeε lit. “hot/burning weedy chest” and anibereε, lit. “reddened eyes.” (Source: Gladys Nyarko Ansah in Kövecses / Benczes / Szelid 2024, p. 21ff.)

See also God’s anger and angry.

complete verse (Matthew 18:34)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 18:34:

  • Uma: “No longer kidding the anger of the king. He put that slave whose behavior was evil into prison until his debt was paid finished/completely.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “The sultan was very angry and he commanded that servant to be put in prison to be punished as long as he was not able to pay all his debt.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The king was very angry, and he had this man put in prison to punish him as long as he could not pay all that he owed.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “And due-to the extreme anger of the king, he sentenced that official to be hardshipped in prison until he paid all his debt.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Without anything further, through the greatness of the anger of that king, he imprisoned him until he could pay all that debt of his.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The boss was really angry. He ordered them to take the worker to jail until he would pay the money that he owed.” (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 18:34

And in anger (Good News Translation “was very angry”) translates a participle which is given a position of emphasis in the Greek sentence. New English Bible renders “And so angry was the master,” and Barclay “The master was furious.”

Once again Good News Translation substitutes “The king” for his lord in order to maintain continuity throughout the parable. See verses 27 and 31.

The king delivered him, or possibly better, “handed him over” (Barclay) or “ordered his servants to take the man.”

To the jailers (Good News Translation “to jail to be punished”) is more literally “to the torturers” (New Jerusalem Bible), as RSV’s footnote points out. New English Bible has “he condemned the man to torture.” Torture was not allowed among the Jews, though it is known to have been used by Herod the Great. But in other countries of the ancient Near East torture was regularly used, especially in cases of a disloyal governor or one who was late in the payment of taxes. The mention of “torture” is to intensify the degree of punishment which the man would receive. For this reason many translate the phrase as “to the people who would punish him” or “to the people (in jail) who would make him suffer.”

Till he should pay all his debt is almost word-for-word the same as the last part of verse 30, except for the inclusion of the modifier all. That is, the man’s own punishment is described in terms of the punishment which he inflicted on his fellow servant. Moreover, the man’s situation is helpless and his punishment is endless, because there is no opportunity for him to make restoration.

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 .