⁵and whoever welcomes one child such as this in my name welcomes me. ⁶But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him that a large millstone^a be hung on^b his neck and he be drowned in the depths of the sea. ⁷Woe to the world because of causes for stumbling, for it is a necessity that causes for stumbling come; nevertheless, woe to the person through whom the cause for stumbling comes. ⁸And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it^* from you! It is better for you to enter into life crippled or lame than, having two hands or two feet, to be thrown into the eternal fire! ⁹And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it^* from you! It is better for you to enter into life one-eyed than, having two eyes, to be thrown into fiery hell!

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

¹⁰“See to it that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven constantly see the face of my Father who is in heaven.^c ¹²What do you think? If a certain man has^d a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go and^* look for the one that wandered away? ¹³And if he happens to find it, truly I say to you that he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that did not wander away. ¹⁴In the same way it is not the will of^e your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

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Footnotes

aLiterally “a millstone of a donkey”
bSome manuscripts have “around”
*Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
*Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
cMany later Greek manuscripts include vs. 11, “For the Son of Man came to save those who are lost.”
dLiterally “there are to a certain man”
*Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“go”) has been translated as a finite verb
eLiterally “in the presence of”