Matthew 18:28
New International Version
“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

New Living Translation
“But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.

English Standard Version
But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’

Berean Standard Bible
But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe me!’

Berean Literal Bible
But the same servant having gone out, found one of his fellow servants who was owing him a hundred denarii, and having seized him, he was throttling him, saying, 'Pay what you owe.'

King James Bible
But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.

New King James Version
“But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’

New American Standard Bible
But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe!’

NASB 1995
“But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’

NASB 1977
“But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’

Legacy Standard Bible
But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’

Amplified Bible
But that same slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began choking him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe!’

Christian Standard Bible
“That servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, ‘Pay what you owe! ’

Holman Christian Standard Bible
“But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him 100 denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, Pay what you owe!’

American Standard Version
But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, who owed him a hundred shillings: and he laid hold on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay what thou owest.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
But that servant went out and found one of his associates who had owed him a hundred denarii, and he seized him and throttled him, and he said to him, “Give me that which you owe me.”

Contemporary English Version
But as this official was leaving, he happened to meet another official, who owed him 100 silver coins. So he grabbed the man by the throat. He started choking him and said, "Pay me what you owe!"

Douay-Rheims Bible
But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence: and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: Pay what thou owest.

English Revised Version
But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him a hundred pence: and he laid hold on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay what thou owest.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
But when that servant went away, he found a servant who owed him hundreds of dollars. He grabbed the servant he found and began to choke him. 'Pay what you owe!' he said.

Good News Translation
"Then the man went out and met one of his fellow servants who owed him a few dollars. He grabbed him and started choking him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he said.

International Standard Version
"But when that servant went away, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him, seized him by the throat, and said, 'Pay what you owe!'

Literal Standard Version
And that servant having come forth, found one of his fellow-servants who was owing him one hundred denarii, and having laid hold, he took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that which you owe.

Majority Standard Bible
But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe me!’

New American Bible
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’

NET Bible
After he went out, that same slave found one of his fellow slaves who owed him one hundred silver coins. So he grabbed him by the throat and started to choke him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe me!'

New Revised Standard Version
But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’

New Heart English Bible
"But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, who owed him one hundred denarii, and he grabbed him, and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay what you owe.'

Webster's Bible Translation
But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, who owed him a hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me what thou owest.

Weymouth New Testament
But no sooner had that servant gone out, than he met with one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 shillings; and seizing him by the throat and nearly strangling him he exclaimed, "'Pay me all you owe.'

World English Bible
“But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him one hundred denarii, and he grabbed him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’

Young's Literal Translation
'And, that servant having come forth, found one of his fellow-servants who was owing him an hundred denaries, and having laid hold, he took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that which thou owest.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Unforgiving Servant
27His master had compassion on him, forgave his debt, and released him. 28But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ 29So his fellow servant fell down and begged him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you back.’…

Cross References
Proverbs 28:3
A destitute leader who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no food.

Matthew 18:27
His master had compassion on him, forgave his debt, and released him.

Matthew 18:29
So his fellow servant fell down and begged him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you back.'

Mark 6:37
But Jesus told them, "You give them something to eat." They asked Him, "Should we go out and spend two hundred denarii to give all of them bread to eat?"

Mark 14:5
It could have been sold for over three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor." And they scolded her.

Luke 7:41
"Two men were debtors to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.

Luke 10:35
The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Take care of him,' he said, 'and on my return I will repay you for any additional expense.'


Treasury of Scripture

But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that you owe.

an hundred.

Matthew 18:3
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

pence.

Matthew 20:2
And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

and took.

Deuteronomy 15:2
And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD'S release.

Nehemiah 5:7,10,11
Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them…

Nehemiah 10:31
And if the people of the land bring ware or any victuals on the sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy it of them on the sabbath, or on the holy day: and that we would leave the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt.

Jump to Previous
Bondman Debt Demanded Denarii Exclaimed Fellow Fellow-Bondmen Fellowservants Fellow-Servants Found Grabbed Hands Hold Hundred Meeting Met Nearly Owe Owed Owest Pay Payment Pence Seized Seizing Servant Servants Shillings Slave Sooner Strangling Throat
Jump to Next
Bondman Debt Demanded Denarii Exclaimed Fellow Fellow-Bondmen Fellowservants Fellow-Servants Found Grabbed Hands Hold Hundred Meeting Met Nearly Owe Owed Owest Pay Payment Pence Seized Seizing Servant Servants Shillings Slave Sooner Strangling Throat
Matthew 18
1. Jesus warns his disciples to be humble and harmless,
7. to avoid offenses,
10. and not to despise the little ones;
15. teaches how we are to deal with our brothers when they offend us,
21. and how often to forgive them;
23. which he sets forth by a parable of the king who took account of his servants,
32. and punished him who showed no mercy to his fellow servant.














(28) Which owed him an hundred pence.--Here the calculation is simpler than in Matthew 18:24. The "hundred pence" are a hundred Roman denarii (the denarius being equal to sevenpence-halfpenny), a hundred days' wages of the labourer and soldier, enough to provide a meal for 2,500 men (John 6:7). There is a considerable truthfulness in the choice of such a sum, which has, perhaps, been too little noticed. Had our Lord been seeking simply a rhetorical antithesis between the infinitely great and the infinitely little, it would have been easy to select some small coin, like the denarius, the as, or the quadrans, as the amount of the fellow-servant's debt. But to the fishermen of Galilee the "hundred pence" would appear a really considerable sum, and when they came to interpret the parable they would thus be led to feel that it recognised that the offences which men commit against their brothers may, in themselves, be many and grievous enough. It is only when compared with their sins against God that they sink into absolute insignificance.

He laid hands on him.--We are shocked, and are meant to be shocked, by the brutal outrage with which the creditor enforces his claim, but it doubtless was but too faithful a picture of what the disciples had often witnessed, or, it may be, even practised. We are tempted to ask whether this really represents any phenomena of the spiritual life. Can a man who has really been justified and pardoned become thus merciless? The experience of every age, almost of every household, shows that the inconsistency is but too fatally common. The man is not consciously a hypocrite, but he is as yet "double minded" (James 1:8), and the baser self is not conquered. In the language of the later teaching of the New Testament the man's faith is not one which "worketh by love" (Galatians 5:6). He is justified, but not as yet sanctified.

Verse 28. - Went out - straightway from his lord's presence, where he had been so mercifully treated, while the remembrance of his free and undeserved forgiveness must have been still fresh. Found. Lighted upon by chance, as it were. Here, rather, was providentially offered an opportunity of showing that his lord's goodness was not thrown away, but had entered his heart and controlled his conduct towards others. One of his fellow servants. An official of the king, but probably in an inferior position to that which he himself occupied. Seeing this man, he is reminded of a paltry debt which this person owed him. He remembers this fact; he forgets his late experience. An hundred pence (denarii; see on Matthew 20:2); equivalent to some £3 of our money, and a sum not a millionth part of his own debt to his master; the proportion, as some say, may be stated more accurately as 1 to 1,250,000. The enormous difference between these two amounts represents the disproportion between the offences of our neighbours against us and those of which we are guilty towards God; and how small is the forgiveness on our side compared with that which God freely accords to our infinite debt to him! We must consider also the parties to whom these debts are owing - on one side, the worm man; on the other, Almighty God. Took him by the throat (ἔπνιγε); was throttling him. Thus precluding all prayer and remonstrance. Such brutal treatment was not what he himself had experienced. Pay me that thou owest; ὅτι ὀφείλεις: quod debes. Many manuscripts and late editors (e.g., Lachmann, Tregelles, Tischendorf, Alford, Westcott and Hort) soften the demand by reading εἴ τι ὀφείλεις, si quid debes, "if thou owest aught," as though the creditor were ashamed of mentioning the paltry sum due; or else it is simply a fashion of speaking, not to be pressed as if any doubt was intimated concerning the debt. It might almost be rendered, "Pay, since thou owest something." Not thus had his lord addressed him in the first instance.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
But when
δὲ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

that
ἐκεῖνος (ekeinos)
Demonstrative Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 1565: That, that one there, yonder. From ekei; that one (neuter) thing); often intensified by the article prefixed.

servant
δοῦλος (doulos)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 1401: (a) (as adj.) enslaved, (b) (as noun) a (male) slave. From deo; a slave.

went out,
Ἐξελθὼν (Exelthōn)
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 1831: To go out, come out. From ek and erchomai; to issue.

he found
εὗρεν (heuren)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2147: A prolonged form of a primary heuro, which heureo is used for it in all the tenses except the present and imperfect to find.

one
ἕνα (hena)
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 1520: One. (including the neuter Hen); a primary numeral; one.

of his
αὐτοῦ (autou)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

fellow servants
συνδούλων (syndoulōn)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 4889: From sun and doulos; a co-slave, i.e. Servitor or ministrant of the same master.

who
ὃς (hos)
Personal / Relative Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3739: Who, which, what, that.

owed
ὤφειλεν (ōpheilen)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 3784: Or, its prolonged form opheileo probably from the base of ophelos; to owe; figuratively, to be under obligation; morally, to fail in duty.

him
αὐτῷ (autō)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

a hundred
ἑκατὸν (hekaton)
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Plural
Strong's 1540: One hundred. Of uncertain affinity; a hundred.

denarii.
δηνάρια (dēnaria)
Noun - Accusative Neuter Plural
Strong's 1220: A denarius, a small Roman silver coin. Of Latin origin; a denarius.

He grabbed
κρατήσας (kratēsas)
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2902: From kratos; to use strength, i.e. Seize or retain.

him
αὐτὸν (auton)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

and began to choke [him],
ἔπνιγεν (epnigen)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 4155: To choke, throttle, strangle; hence: I drown. Strengthened from pneo; to wheeze, i.e. to throttle or strangle.

saying,
λέγων (legōn)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3004: (a) I say, speak; I mean, mention, tell, (b) I call, name, especially in the pass., (c) I tell, command.

‘Pay
Ἀπόδος (Apodos)
Verb - Aorist Imperative Active - 2nd Person Singular
Strong's 591: From apo and didomi; to give away, i.e. Up, over, back, etc.

back
εἴ (ei)
Conjunction
Strong's 1487: If. A primary particle of conditionality; if, whether, that, etc.

what
τι (ti)
Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 5100: Any one, some one, a certain one or thing. An enclitic indefinite pronoun; some or any person or object.

you owe [me].�
ὀφείλεις (opheileis)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Singular
Strong's 3784: Or, its prolonged form opheileo probably from the base of ophelos; to owe; figuratively, to be under obligation; morally, to fail in duty.


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NT Gospels: Matthew 18:28 But that servant went out and found (Matt. Mat Mt)
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