Matthew 18:10-14

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

18:10 “See that you do not disdain one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. 18:11 [[EMPTY]] ¹  18:12 What do you think? If someone ²  owns a hundred ³  sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go look for the one that went astray? ⁴  18:13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, ⁵  he will rejoice more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. 18:14 In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that one of these little ones be lost.

¹ tc The most important mss (א B L* Θ* Ë^1,13 33 892* pc e ff¹ sy^s sa) do not include 18:11 “For the Son of Man came to save the lost.” The verse is included in D L^mg W Θ^c 078^vid Ï lat sy^c,p,h, but is almost certainly not original, being borrowed, as it were, from the parallel in Luke 19:10. The present translation follows NA²⁷ in omitting the verse number as well, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations.

² tn Grk “a certain man.” The Greek word ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used here in a somewhat generic sense.

³ sn This individual with a hundred sheep is a shepherd of modest means, as flocks often had up to two hundred head of sheep.

⁴ sn Look for the one that went astray. The parable pictures God’s pursuit of the sinner. On the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, see John 10:1-18.

⁵ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”