The text here is disputed. Both A. V. and Rev. follow a text which reads: "Doth he not, leaving the ninety and nine, go into the mountains?" Rather join leave with on the mountains, and read, "Will he not leave the ninety and nine upon (ἐκπὶ, scattered over) the mountains, and go," etc. This also corresponds with ἀφήσει, leaving, letting out, or letting loose.

If it should so come to pass. God's grace is not irresistible.

Though some read my Father (μοῦ). Lit., There is not a will before your (my) Father. So Wyc., It is not will before your Father. Meyer paraphrases, There is not before the face of God any determination having as its object that one of these, etc.

Do not wait for him to come to you.

Tell him his fault (ἔλεγξον)

Rev., shew him. The verb means, first, to test, try, search out; therefore, to cross-examine with a view of convincing or refuting; thence to rebuke or chide. The Rev. shew is better than tell, which implies merely naming the fault; whereas the injunction is, go and prove to him how he has erred. Wyc., reprove, with snub as explanation.

Better Rev., "at the mouth," or on the testimony of.

From σύν, together, and φωνή, sound or voice. Transcribed in our word symphony. It has so far lost its distinctive character as a concord of voices as to be used for agreement in the deeper and more inward sense.

Concerning anything that they shall ask (περὶ παντὸς πράγματος οὗ ἐὰν αἰτήσωνται)

The literal rendering is, if any thing, stronger: Everything, whatever it be, for which they may have asked. Wyc., Shall consent of everything whatever they shall ask. Tynd., Shall agree in any manner thing whatsoever they shall desire. The word πρᾶγμα, thing, is used like the Latin res; a matter, affair, business; with the meaning at bottom of something to be done, since it is cognate to the verb πράσσω, to do. Shall be done, however, is γενήσεται, it shall come to pass.

Lit., "into my name." When two or three are drawn together into Christ as the common centre of their desire and faith.

It was a settled rule of Rabbinism that forgiveness should not be extended more than three times. Even so, the practice was terribly different. The Talmud relates, without blame, the conduct of a rabbi who would not forgive a very small slight of his dignity, though asked by the offender for thirteen successive years, and that on the day of atonement; the reason being that the offended rabbi had learned by a dream that his offending brother would attain the highest dignity; whereupon he feigned himself irreconcilable, to force the other to migrate from Palestine to Babylon, where, unenvied by him, he might occupy the chief place (Edersheim). It must, therefore, have seemed to Peter a stretch of charity to extend forgiveness from three to seven times. Christ is not specifying a number of times greater than the limit of seven. He means that there is to be no limit. "Forgiveness is qualitative, not quantitative."

Lit., a man, a king. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a human king.

Take account of his servants (συνᾶραι λόγον μετὰ τῶν δοούλων αὐτοῦ)

The rendering of the A. V. is loose and inadequate, and might be taken to mean to reckon the number of his servants. The verb συνᾶραι is compounded of σύν, with, and αἴρω, to take up, and means literally to take up together, i.e., cast up, as an account. The A. V. also overlooks the force of μετὰ, with. Therefore, Rev., better, make a reckoning with his servants.

Lit., a debtor of ten thousand talents.

Ten thousand talents

An enormous sum; about twelve millions of dollars.

According to the law of Moses: Exodus 2:3; Leviticus 25:39, Leviticus 25:47.

Either went in search of him, as he himself had been sought out by his lord, or came upon him accidentally in the street.

A hundred pence (ἑκατὸν δηνάρια)

Less than a millionth part of his own debt.

Took him by the throat (αὐτὸν ἔπνιγεν)

Lit., throttled. Wyc., strangled. Compare were choked, Mark 5:13. Creditors often dragged their debtors before the judge, as the Roman law allowed them to do, holding them by the throat. Thus Livy (4:53), relates how, a difficulty having arisen between the consul Valerius and one Menenius, the tribunes put an end to the contest, and the consul ordered into prison (collum torsisset, twisted the neck) the few who appealed. And Cicero ("Pro Cluentio," xxi.) "Lead him to the judgment-seat with twisted neck (collo obtorto)." Compare Cicero, "In C. Verrem," 4:10.

What thou owest (εἴ τι ὀφείλεις)

Lit., If thou owest anything. Not that the creditor is uncertain about the fact of the debt, though some uncertainty about the exact amount may be implied. This would agree with found, in the sense of coming upon accidentally. Compare Matthew 13:44. He came suddenly upon him and recognized him as a debtor, though not certain as to the amount of his debt. Meyer remarks, "The if is simply the expression of a pitiless logic. If thou owest anything (as thou dost) pay!" The word pay (ἀπόδος) is emphatic in position.

The imperfect has the force of earnestly besought.

Lit. went away: dragging the other with him to judgment.

More than merely narrated. The verb is from διά, throughout, and σαφέν, to explain. They explained the circumstances throughout.

Their Lord (τῷ κυρίῳ ἑαυτῶν)

Lit., "their own Lord;" as befitted their position, and as a mark of their confidence in him.

Livy pictures an old centurion complaining that he was taken by his creditor, not into servitude, but to a workhouse and torture, and showing his back scarred with fresh wounds (ii., 23).

Better Rev., borders; though it is easy to see how the translation coasts arose, coast being derived from the Latin costa, a side, and hence a border generally, though now applied to the sea-side only.

See on Matthew 6:13.

For every cause

The temptation turned upon the dispute dividing the two great Rabbinical schools, the one of which (that of Hillel) held that a man might divorce his wife for any reason which rendered her distasteful to him; and the other (that of Shammai) that divorce was allowable only in case of unchastity. The querists would be anxious to know which side Jesus espoused.

Lit., shall be glued.

Shall be one flesh (ἔσονται εἰς σάρκα μίαν)

Lit., "into one flesh;" Wyc., two in one flesh.

Not those. Christ is contemplating, not the individuals, but the unity which God cemented; and so Wyc., that thing that God enjoined; i.e., knit together. The aorist tense (denoting the occurrence of an event at some past time, considered as a momentary act) seems to refer to the original ordinance of God at the creation (Matthew 19:4).

Rev., bill. The word is a diminutive of βίβλος, which originally means the inner bark of the papyrus, used for writing, then a book or roll of this bark; hence a paper, bill.

Rev., for: having regard to.

It was not so (οὐ γέγονεν οὕτως)

The A. V. is commonly understood to mean, it was not so in the beginning. But that is not Christ's meaning. The verb is in the perfect tense (denoting the continuance of past action or its results down to the present). He means: Notwithstanding Moses' permission, the case has not been so from the beginning until now. The original ordinance has never been abrogated nor superseded, but continues in force.

Lit., not on account of fornication.

Not the relation of the man to his wife, nor the circumstances, the state of the case. Αἰτία refers to cause (Matthew 19:3), and the meaning is, if the matter stands thus with reference to the cause which the man must have for putting away his wife.

Lit., leave alone. Compare Mark 14:6; Mark 15:36; Luke 13:8. Sir J. Cheke: Let these children alone.

But the true reading is, τί με ἐρωτᾷς περὶ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ; Why askest thou me concerning the good ?

There is none good but one, that is God (οὐδεὶς ἀγαθὸς εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ Θεός)

But the reading is, εἷς ἐστὶν ὁ ἀγαθός, One there is who is good. The saying of Christ appears especially appropriate in the light of the Rabbinic apothegm, "There is nothing else that is good but the law."

See on Mark 10:25; and Luke 18:25. Compare the Jewish proverb, that a man did not even in his dreams see an elephant pass through the eye of a needle. The reason why the camel was substituted for the elephant was because the proverb was from the Babylonian Talmud, and in Babylon the elephant was common, while in Palestine it was unknown. The Koran has the same figure: "The impious shall find the gates of heaven shut; nor shall he enter there till a camel shall pass through the eye of a needle." Bo-chart, in his history of the animals of scripture, cites a Talmudic passage: "A needle's eye is not too narrow for two friends, nor is the world wide enough for two enemies." The allusion is not to be explained by reference to a narrow gate called a needle's eye.