₂₁Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, if my brother keeps on sinning against me, how many times do I have to forgive him? Seven times?”

₂₂“No, not seven times,” answered Jesus, “but seventy times seven, ₂₃because the Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there was a king who decided to check on his servants' accounts. ₂₄He had just begun to do so when one of them was brought in who owed him millions of pounds. ₂₅The servant did not have enough to pay his debt, so the king ordered him to be sold as a slave, with his wife and his children and all that he had, in order to pay the debt. ₂₆The servant fell on his knees before the king. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay you everything!’ ₂₇The king felt sorry for him, so he forgave him the debt and let him go.

₂₈“Then the man went out and met one of his fellow-servants who owed him a few pounds. He grabbed him and started choking him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he said. ₂₉His fellow-servant fell down and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back!’ ₃₀But he refused; instead, he had him thrown into jail until he should pay the debt. ₃₁When the other servants saw what had happened, they were very upset and went to the king and told him everything. ₃₂So he called the servant in. ‘You worthless slave!’ he said. ‘I forgave you the whole amount you owed me, just because you asked me to. ₃₃You should have had mercy on your fellow-servant, just as I had mercy on you.’ ₃₄The king was very angry, and he sent the servant to jail to be punished until he should pay back the whole amount.”

₃₅And Jesus concluded, “That is how my Father in heaven will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”