Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!
Parallel translations
- WEB Jesus said to him, “I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.
- KJV Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
- ESV Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
- NKJV Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
- NASB Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy-seven times.
- NLT “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus answers not seven times but seventy times seven, meaning forgiveness without limit. Christians are to forgive as freely and endlessly as they have been forgiven.
Overview
Whether rendered 'seventy-seven' or 'seventy times seven,' the number signals boundlessness, deliberately reversing Lamech's unlimited vengeance (Genesis 4:24). Forgiveness is not to be rationed. This sweeping mercy reflects the heart of God and sets up the parable that grounds it in the immeasurable debt he has forgiven us.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Col 3:13Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
- Mark 11:25And 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.”
- Eph 4:31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice.
- Matt 6:14–15For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
- Gen 4:24If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”
- Rom 12:21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
- Eph 4:26“Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger,
- Matt 6:11–12Give us this day our daily bread.
- 1 Tim 2:8Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or dissension.
- Isa 55:7Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
- Mic 7:19He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 18:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.