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Monday, July 21st, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Matthew 18:33

This verse is not available in the MSG!

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Charitableness;   Creditor;   Debtor;   Forgiveness;   Jesus, the Christ;   Jesus Continued;   Kingdom of Heaven;   Malice;   Scofield Reference Index - Parables;   The Topic Concordance - Forgiveness;   Kingdom of God;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Forgiveness of Injuries;   Parables;   Servants;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Mercy;   Parable;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Anger;   Debt;   Forgiveness;   Grace;   Lending;   Mercy;   Patience;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Christ, Christology;   Discipline;   Follow, Follower;   Forgiveness;   Gospel;   Guilt;   Mercy;   Wages;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Hutchinsonians;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Mercy;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - David;   John, the Gospel According to;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Brotherly Love;   Compassion;   Ethics;   Forgiveness;   Matthew, the Gospel of;   Mercy, Merciful;   Parables;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Ethics;   Forgiveness;   Mercy, Merciful;   Parable;   Pity;   Text of the New Testament;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Character;   Debt, Debtor;   Debt, Debtor (2);   Discourse;   Doctrines;   Guilt (2);   Justice (2);   Kindness (2);   Lord's Prayer (Ii);   Love (2);   Matthew, Gospel According to;   Money (2);   Paradox;   Personality;   Pity;   Pity Compassion;   Prayer (2);   Righteous, Righteousness;   Sanctify, Sanctification;   Steward, Stewardship;   Sympathy;   Vengeance (2);   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Chief parables and miracles in the bible;   Forgiveness;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Justification;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Jesus of Nazareth;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Compassion;   Debt;   Forgiveness;   Intercession;   Jesus Christ (Part 2 of 2);   Mercy;   Pity;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for April 27;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’
King James Version (1611)
Shouldest not thou also haue had compassion on thy fellow-seruant, euen as I had pitie on thee?
King James Version
Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
English Standard Version
And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?'
New American Standard Bible
'Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?'
New Century Version
You should have showed mercy to that other servant, just as I showed mercy to you.'
Amplified Bible
'Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave [who owed you little by comparison], as I had mercy on you?'
Geneva Bible (1587)
Oughtest not thou also to haue had pitie on thy fellowe seruant, euen as I had pitie on thee?
New American Standard Bible (1995)
'Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?'
Legacy Standard Bible
Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?'
Berean Standard Bible
Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?'
Contemporary English Version
Don't you think you should show pity to someone else, as I did to you?"
Complete Jewish Bible
Shouldn't you have had pity on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'
Darby Translation
shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-bondman, as *I* also had compassion on thee?
Easy-to-Read Version
So you should have given that other man who serves with you the same mercy I gave you.'
George Lamsa Translation
Was it not right for you to have mercy on your fellow-servant, just as I had mercy on you?
Good News Translation
You should have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you.'
Lexham English Bible
Should you not also have shown mercy to your fellow slave as I also showed mercy to you?'
Literal Translation
Ought you not also to have mercy on your fellow slave, as I also had mercy?
American Standard Version
shouldest not thou also have had mercy on thy fellow-servant, even as I had mercy on thee?
Bible in Basic English
Was it not right for you to have mercy on the other servant, even as I had mercy on you?
Hebrew Names Version
Shouldn't you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you?'
International Standard Version
Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?'
Etheridge Translation
Oughtest thou not to have been as gracious to thy fellow-servant as I was gracious unto thee?
Murdock Translation
oughtest not thou also to have compassion on thy fellow-servant, as I had compassion on thee?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Shouldest not thou also, haue had compassion on thy felowe, euen as I had pitie on thee?
English Revised Version
shouldest not thou also have had mercy on thy fellow-servant, even as I had mercy on thee?
World English Bible
Shouldn't you also have had mercy on your fellow-servant, even as I had mercy on you?'
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Should'st not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, as I had pity on thee?
Weymouth's New Testament
ought not you also to have had pity on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor whether it bihouede not also thee to haue merci on thin euen seruaunt, as Y hadde merci on thee?
Update Bible Version
should not you also have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?
Webster's Bible Translation
Shouldst thou not also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee?
New English Translation
Should you not have shown mercy to your fellow slave, just as I showed it to you?'
New King James Version
Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'
New Living Translation
Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?'
New Life Bible
Should you not have had pity on the other servant, even as I had pity on you?'
New Revised Standard
Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?'
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Was it not binding, upon thee also, to have mercy upon thy fellow-servant, as, I also, on thee, had mercy?
Douay-Rheims Bible
Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?
Revised Standard Version
and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?'
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
shuldest have had copassion on thy felow even as I had pitie on ye?
Young's Literal Translation
did it not behove also thee to have dealt kindly with thy fellow-servant, as I also dealt kindly with thee?
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
shuldest not thou then haue had compassion also vpon thy felowe, euen as I had pytie vpon the?
Mace New Testament (1729)
should not you then have had the like compassion for thy fellow servant as I had for thee?
Simplified Cowboy Version
Then you went out and took a man's only horse from him because he owed you a hundred?!'

Contextual Overview

21 At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, "Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?" 22 Jesus replied, "Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven. 23"The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn't pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market. 26"The poor wretch threw himself at the king's feet and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt. 28 "The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, ‘Pay up. Now!' 29"The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' But he wouldn't do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king. 32"The king summoned the man and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn't you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?' The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. And that's exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn't forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

even: Matthew 5:44, Matthew 5:45, Luke 6:35, Luke 6:36, Ephesians 4:32, Ephesians 5:1, Ephesians 5:2, Colossians 3:13

Reciprocal: Exodus 23:9 - ye know Deuteronomy 15:15 - General Psalms 18:25 - With the Psalms 109:16 - he remembered Lamentations 2:2 - swallowed Jonah 4:11 - should Zechariah 11:6 - I will no Matthew 5:7 - are Luke 10:33 - he had 1 Peter 3:8 - having 1 John 4:11 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 18:16
When the men got up to leave, they set off for Sodom. Abraham walked with them to say good-bye.
Genesis 18:22
The men set out for Sodom, but Abraham stood in God 's path, blocking his way.
Genesis 31:55
Jacob learned that Laban's sons were talking behind his back: "Jacob has used our father's wealth to make himself rich at our father's expense." At the same time, Jacob noticed that Laban had changed toward him. He wasn't treating him the same. That's when God said to Jacob, "Go back home where you were born. I'll go with you." So Jacob sent word for Rachel and Leah to meet him out in the field where his flocks were. He said, "I notice that your father has changed toward me; he doesn't treat me the same as before. But the God of my father hasn't changed; he's still with me. You know how hard I've worked for your father. Still, your father has cheated me over and over, changing my wages time and again. But God never let him really hurt me. If he said, ‘Your wages will consist of speckled animals' the whole flock would start having speckled lambs and kids. And if he said, ‘From now on your wages will be streaked animals' the whole flock would have streaked ones. Over and over God used your father's livestock to reward me. "Once, while the flocks were mating, I had a dream and saw the billy goats, all of them streaked, speckled, and mottled, mounting their mates. In the dream an angel of God called out to me, ‘Jacob!' "I said, ‘Yes?' "He said, ‘Watch closely. Notice that all the goats in the flock that are mating are streaked, speckled, and mottled. I know what Laban's been doing to you. I'm the God of Bethel where you consecrated a pillar and made a vow to me. Now be on your way, get out of this place, go home to your birthplace.'" Rachel and Leah said, "Has he treated us any better? Aren't we treated worse than outsiders? All he wanted was the money he got from selling us, and he's spent all that. Any wealth that God has seen fit to return to us from our father is justly ours and our children's. Go ahead. Do what God told you." Jacob did it. He put his children and his wives on camels and gathered all his livestock and everything he had gotten, everything acquired in Paddan Aram, to go back home to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. Laban was off shearing sheep. Rachel stole her father's household gods. And Jacob had concealed his plans so well that Laban the Aramean had no idea what was going on—he was totally in the dark. Jacob got away with everything he had and was soon across the Euphrates headed for the hill country of Gilead. Three days later, Laban got the news: "Jacob's run off." Laban rounded up his relatives and chased after him. Seven days later they caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. That night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and said, "Be careful what you do to Jacob, whether good or bad." When Laban reached him, Jacob's tents were pitched in the Gilead mountains; Laban pitched his tents there, too. "What do you mean," said Laban, "by keeping me in the dark and sneaking off, hauling my daughters off like prisoners of war? Why did you run off like a thief in the night? Why didn't you tell me? Why, I would have sent you off with a great celebration—music, timbrels, flutes! But you wouldn't permit me so much as a kiss for my daughters and grandchildren. It was a stupid thing for you to do. If I had a mind to, I could destroy you right now, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, ‘Be careful what you do to Jacob, whether good or bad.' I understand. You left because you were homesick. But why did you steal my household gods?" Jacob answered Laban, "I was afraid. I thought you would take your daughters away from me by brute force. But as far as your gods are concerned, if you find that anybody here has them, that person dies. With all of us watching, look around. If you find anything here that belongs to you, take it." Jacob didn't know that Rachel had stolen the gods. Laban went through Jacob's tent, Leah's tent, and the tents of the two maids but didn't find them. He went from Leah's tent to Rachel's. But Rachel had taken the household gods, put them inside a camel cushion, and was sitting on them. When Laban had gone through the tent, searching high and low without finding a thing, Rachel said to her father, "Don't think I'm being disrespectful, my master, that I can't stand before you, but I'm having my period." So even though he turned the place upside down in his search, he didn't find the household gods. Now it was Jacob's turn to get angry. He lit into Laban: "So what's my crime, what wrong have I done you that you badger me like this? You've ransacked the place. Have you turned up a single thing that's yours? Let's see it—display the evidence. Our two families can be the jury and decide between us. "In the twenty years I've worked for you, ewes and she-goats never miscarried. I never feasted on the rams from your flock. I never brought you a torn carcass killed by wild animals but that I paid for it out of my own pocket—actually, you made me pay whether it was my fault or not. I was out in all kinds of weather, from torrid heat to freezing cold, putting in many a sleepless night. For twenty years I've done this: I slaved away fourteen years for your two daughters and another six years for your flock and you changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not stuck with me, you would have sent me off penniless. But God saw the fix I was in and how hard I had worked and last night rendered his verdict." Laban defended himself: "The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flock is my flock—everything you see is mine. But what can I do about my daughters or for the children they've had? So let's settle things between us, make a covenant—God will be the witness between us." Jacob took a stone and set it upright as a pillar. Jacob called his family around, "Get stones!" They gathered stones and heaped them up and then ate there beside the pile of stones. Laban named it in Aramaic, Yegar-sahadutha (Witness Monument); Jacob echoed the naming in Hebrew, Galeed (Witness Monument). Laban said, "This monument of stones will be a witness, beginning now, between you and me." (That's why it is called Galeed—Witness Monument.) It is also called Mizpah (Watchtower) because Laban said, " God keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other's sight. If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives when there's no one around to see you, God will see you and stand witness between us." Laban continued to Jacob, "This monument of stones and this stone pillar that I have set up is a witness, a witness that I won't cross this line to hurt you and you won't cross this line to hurt me. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor (the God of their ancestor) will keep things straight between us." Jacob promised, swearing by the Fear, the God of his father Isaac. Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and worshiped, calling in all his family members to the meal. They ate and slept that night on the mountain. Laban got up early the next morning, kissed his grandchildren and his daughters, blessed them, and then set off for home.
Genesis 32:26
The man said, "Let me go; it's daybreak." Jacob said, "I'm not letting you go 'til you bless me."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Shouldest not thou also have had compassion..... It is but reasonable, what ought to be, and may be expected, that such who have received mercy, should show mercy; and as the Lord had compassion on this man, and had forgiven him such an immense sum, and saved him, his wife and children, from being sold for bondslaves, the least he could have done after this, would have been to have followed such an example, and have had mercy, as his Lord says to him,

on thy fellow servant; between whom, and him, there was not so great a distance, as between him, and his Lord; and the sum so small that was owing to him, as not to be mentioned with his:

even as, I had pity on thee; such an instance of pity and compassion did not only set him an example, worthy of his imitation, but laid him under an obligation to have acted such a part.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Matthew 18:33. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion — ουκ εδει και σε, Did it not become thee also? What a cutting reproach! It became ME to show mercy, when thou didst earnestly entreat me, because I am MERCIFUL, It became thee also to have shown mercy, because thou wert so deep in debt thyself, and hadst obtained mercy.


 
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