Matthew 18:35

That is how My heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Jesus addresses his disciples, closing the parable of the unmerciful servant (18:23–34) with its direct application to the hearers.

The words — houtōs (οὕτως), "thus," is the hinge: it yokes the parable's ending to the listener's own standing before the Father, making the story a mirror rather than a tale.

The thread — Matthew 6:14 states the same conditional in the Lord's Prayer; James 2:13 and Luke 6:37 pair mercy with judgment and forgiveness with being forgiven.

Why it lands — The verse makes internal forgiveness ("from your heart") the stated condition for the Father's treatment, leaving no room for outward compliance alone.

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

So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Cross-references

Matthew 6:14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
James 2:13 For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Luke 6:37 Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Mark 11:25 And when you stand to pray, if you hold anything against another, forgive it, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your trespasses as well.”
Matthew 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Proverbs 21:2 All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart.
Proverbs 21:13 Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too shall cry out and receive no answer.
Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge, or you will be judged.
Luke 16:15 So He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God.
Zechariah 7:12 They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of Hosts.