Bible Strands
Matthew 18:33
Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?’
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The master addresses the unforgiving servant immediately after the servant refuses to cancel a fellow debtor's obligation. This exchange occurs at the moment of judicial reversal, directly preceding the master's order to hand the servant over to torturers.
The words — ἔδει (edei) translates as "it was necessary" and ἐλεῆσαι (eleēsai) as "to have pitied." These terms frame the servant's refusal not as a mere option but as a failure to fulfill an expected obligation.
The thread — The pattern extends to Colossians 3:13, Matthew 6:12, and Ephesians 4:32. Colossians 3:13 and Ephesians 4:32 ground the command to forgive in the prior forgiveness believers receive from God in Christ, while Matthew 6:12 links the act of forgiving others to the forgiveness prayed for in the Lord's Prayer.
Why it lands — The text states that those who receive mercy must actively replicate it toward others. It requires the reader to treat the extension of forgiveness as a non-negotiable response to prior grace.
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
Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
Cross-references
- Colossians 3:13 Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
- Matthew 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
- Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
- Luke 6:35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
- Matthew 5:44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,