His lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he should pay all that was due to him.
Parallel Translations
-
His lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he should pay all that was due to him.
-
And his lorde was wrooth and delyuered him to the iaylers tyll he should paye all that was due to him.
-
So his Lord was wroth, and deliuered him to the tormentours, till he should pay all that was due to him.
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Matthew 18:34 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 5:25-26 Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him on the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison. Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there, until you have paid the last penny.
- James 2:13 For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
- Luke 12:58-59 For when you are going with your adversary before the magistrate, try diligently on the way to be released from him, lest perhaps he drag you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you will by no means get out of there, until you have paid the very last penny.”
- 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 punishing those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus, who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
- Matthew 18:30 He would not, but went and cast him into prison, until he should pay back that which was due.
- Revelation 14:10-11 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him…
34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
Ver. 34. And his lord was wroth] So God is said to be, when he chides and smites for sin, as men used to do in their anger; but somewhat worse than they, for his anger "burneth to the lowest hell," Deu 32:22.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain His Lord delivered him to the tormentors - Imprisonment…
His Lord delivered him to the tormentors - Imprisonment is a much severer punishment in the eastern countries than in ours. State criminals, especially when condemned to it, are not only confined to a very mean and scanty allowance, but are frequently loaded with clogs or heavy yokes, so that they can neither lie nor sit at ease: and by frequent scourgings and sometimes rackings are brought to an untimely end. Till he should pay all that was due to him - That is, without all hope of release, for this he could never do. How observable is this whole account; as well as the great inference our Lord draws from it:
1. The debtor was freely and fully forgiven;
Read full note →
2. He wilfully and grievously offended;
3. His pardon was retracted, the whole debt required, and the offender delivered to the tormentors forever. And shall we still say, but when we are once freely and fully forgiven, our pardon can never be retracted? Verily, verily, I say unto you, So likewise will my heavenly Father do to you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 34. Delivered him to the tormentors] Not only…
Verse 34. Delivered him to the tormentors] Not only continued captivity is here intended, but the tortures to be endured in it. If a person was suspected of fraud, as there was reason for in such a case as that mentioned here, he was put to very cruel tortures among the Asiatics, to induce him to confess. In the punishments of China, a great variety of these appear; and probably there is an allusion to such torments in this place. Before, he and all that he had, were only to be sold. Now, as he has increased his debt, so he has increased his punishment; he is delivered to the tormentors, to the horrors of a guilty conscience, and to a fearful looking for of fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. But if this refers to the day of judgment, then the worm that dieth not, and the fire that is not quenched, are the tormentors.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Delivered him to the tormentors - The word “tormentors”…
Delivered him to the tormentors - The word “tormentors” here probably means keepers of the prisons. Torments were inflicted on criminals, not on debtors. They were inflicted by stretching the limbs, or pinching the flesh, or putting out the eyes, or taking off the skin while alive, etc. It is not probable that anything of this kind is intended, but only that the servant was punished by imprisonment until the debt should be paid.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to…
And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors--more than jailers; denoting the severity of the treatment which he thought such a case demanded.
till he should pay all that was due unto him.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 34. Tormentors — Not jailers only, but inflicters of…
34. Tormentors — Not jailers only, but inflicters of chastisements. For criminals in prison were often condemned to scourging. Pay all — See on Mat_18:30. Of course it was impossible for the bankrupt in prison to pay his fifteen million dollars.
The king, it must be observed, imprisons him for the debt which he had at first forgiven. The old forgiven sin of the apostate sinner springs up anew and condemns him. A man is finally punished for all the sins of his life. It helps him not one jot that at one time he was pardoned, but rather aggravates his case.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 34. The acquittal is revoked—a point not to be…
34. The acquittal is revoked—a point not to be pressed in the interpretation. The truth taught is the impossibility of the unforgiving being forgiven, but the chief lesson is the example of the divine spirit of forgiveness in the act of the king. This example the pardoned slave should have followed.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (34) Delivered him to the tormentors.—The words seem deliberately…
(34) Delivered him to the tormentors.—The words seem deliberately vague. We dare not say that the “tormentors” are avenging angels, or demons, though in the hell of mediæval poetry and art these latter are almost exclusively represented as the instruments of punishment. More truly, we may see in them the symbols of whatever agencies God employs in the work of righteous retribution, the stings of remorse, the scourge of conscience, the scorn and reproach of men, not excluding, of course, whatever elements of suffering lie behind the veil, in the life beyond the grave.
Till he should pay all that was due unto him.—As in Mat_5:26 (where see Note), the words suggest at once the possibility of a limit, and the difficulty, if not impossibility, of ever reaching it. How could the man in the hands of the tormentors obtain the means of paying the ten thousand talents? And the parable excludes the thought of the debt being, as it were, taken out in torments, a quantitative punishment being accepted as the discharge of what could not otherwise be paid. The imagery of the parable leaves us in silent awe, and we only find refuge from our questionings in the thought that “the things that are impossible with man are possible with God” (Mat_19:26).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Was wroth. This, as we said above, is the…
Was wroth. This, as we said above, is the prerogative of God. Man is pained and grieved at sin; God is angry. Tormentors; basanistaiv : tortoribus. These are not the gaolers, prison keepers, but persons who put prisoners to the torture. Neither Jewish nor Roman law at that time recognized any such officials; neither were those in confinement treated thus in either community. The idea is taken from the practice of Oriental despotism, which might thus punish an offence considered supremely detestable. In a mystical sense these are the ministers of Divine vengeance who carry out the behests of the King. Till he should pay; until he should have paid (ewv ou apodw ). Some editors omit or bracket ou , but the sense is the same with or without the relative. The debt never could be paid, so practically the punishment would last forever. Commentators, mediaeval and modern, see here an argument for the eternity of future punishment; others see in the clause an intimation that sin may be forgiven in the other world, though not repented of or pardoned in this present life. The words give no support to the latter interpretation. Until , etc., does not necessarily signify that the condition specified is certain to be fulfilled. As Bengel says, on Mat_1:25, "Non sequitur ergo post." And in the present case there could be no possibility of payment. A criminal delivered to the tormentors would have no opportunity or means of raising the necessary funds. If this is a picture of the final judgment, it is parallel to our Lord"s statement in Mat_5:26, "Thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing;" for, as the Preacher says, "There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest". (Ecc_9:10) All that was due unto him (pan to ofeilomenon autw). Modern editors reject autw : Vulgate, universum debitum. This is more general than "all that debt" in ver. 32. It is usually taken to refer to the old debt now redemanded. But a difficulty has been found in the fact that this old debt had been freely forgiven and utterly done away, and therefore could not, in equity, be again exacted. Hence some commentators have explained the clause as referring not at all to the former debt, but to a new debt incurred by a new offence, viz. ingratitude and unmercifulness. But the spiritual truth seems to be that, although sins once absolutely forgiven are not again imputed, they make subsequent sins more heinous, as in a human law court previous conviction increases the penalty of a fresh transgression. Falling from grace, a man passes into enmity with God, and so far cancels his pardon, and is in a state of condemnation. (see Eze_18:24, Eze_18:26)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 34. His lord … delivered him to the tormenters.…
34. His lord … delivered him to the tormenters. This language is to be interpreted by customs that still prevail in the East, where torture is still used to compel debtors to confess where they have hidden treasures that they are suspected of having concealed. In both Greece and Rome torture was used on prisoners to compel confession, and until within a century or two it was still employed in Great Britain and Europe. Till he should pay all. As, however, he never could pay, he was condemned to perpetual imprisonment.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain The ground of law, of exact justice. Cf. grace,…
tormentors
The ground of law, of exact justice. Cf. grace, Rom 3:23; Rom 3:24; Eph 4:30; Joh 1:17 (See Scofield "Joh 1:17")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Jesus concludes his parable about forgiveness and reconciliation.
Read full note →
General Information:
This is the end of the part of the story that began in Matthew 18:1, where Jesus teaches about life in the kingdom of heaven.
His master
"The king"
handed him over
"gave him over." Most likely the king himself did not take the first servant to the torturers. AT: "he ordered his servants to give him over" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
to the torturers
"to those who would torture him"
that was owed
This can be stated in active form. AT: "that the first servant owed the king" (See: Active or Passive)
my heavenly Father
This is an important title for God that describes the relationship between God and Jesus. (See: Translating Son and Father)
to you ... your
All occurrences of these words are plural. Jesus is speaking to his disciples, but this parable teaches a general truth that applies to all believers. (See: Forms of You)
from your heart
Here "heart" is a metonym for a person's inner being. The phrase "from your heart" is an idiom that means "sincerely." AT: "sincerely" or "completely" (See: Metonymy and Idiom)
translationWords
lord
hand
God the Father
brother
heart
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 18:34 This is how God responds (18:35) to anyone…
18:34 This is how God responds (18:35) to anyone unwilling to forgive. • until he had paid his entire debt: I.e., permanently, because he could never repay.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.