Bible Strands
Matthew 18:29
So his fellow servant fell down and begged him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you back.’
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The forgiven servant encounters a fellow servant who owes him a hundred denarii, and that debtor falls down before him to beg for patience with a promise to repay. This exchange occurs immediately after the first servant receives complete debt cancellation from his master.
The words — πεσὼν (pesōn) records the physical posture of having fallen down, while σὺνδουλος (sundoulos) identifies the debtor strictly as a fellow servant. The text notes the bodily submission before recording the verbal request.
The thread — The plea for patience and deferred repayment mirrors the master’s earlier concession in Matthew 18:26 and aligns with the debt-forgiveness petition in Matthew 6:12. The mechanism of transferring financial liability appears in Philemon 1:18.
Why it lands — The verse presents a conditional plea where mercy is demanded based on a future repayment plan rather than immediate grace. It requires the reader to assess whether they will extend the same conditional patience to others that they themselves demanded.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
Cross-references
- Matthew 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
- Matthew 18:26 Then the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Have patience with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’
- Philemon 1:18 But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to my account.