²Jesus called a little child to him and stood the child before his followers. ³Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you must change and become like little children. Otherwise, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴The greatest person in the kingdom of heaven is the one who makes himself humble like this child.

⁵“Whoever accepts a child in my name accepts me. ⁶If one of these little children believes in me, and someone causes that child to sin, it would be better for that person to have a large stone tied around the neck and be drowned in the sea. ⁷How terrible for the people of the world because of the things that cause them to sin. Such things will happen, but how terrible for the one who causes them to happen! ⁸If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose part of your body and live forever than to have two hands and two feet and be thrown into the fire that burns forever. ⁹If your eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away. It is better for you to have only one eye and live forever than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

A Lost Sheep

¹⁰“Be careful. Don’t think these little children are worth nothing. I tell you that they have angels in heaven who are always with my Father in heaven. ¹¹The Son of Man came to save lost people. ⁿ

¹²“If a man has a hundred sheep but one of the sheep gets lost, he will leave the other ninety-nine on the hill and go to look for the lost sheep. ¹³I tell you the truth, if he finds it he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that were never lost. ¹⁴In the same way, your Father in heaven does not want any of these little children to be lost.

When a Person Sins Against You

¹⁵“If your fellow believer sins against you, ⁿ go and tell him in private what he did wrong. If he listens to you, you have helped that person to be your brother or sister again. ¹⁶But if he refuses to listen, go to him again and take one or two other people with you. ‘Every case may be proved by two or three witnesses.’ ⁿ ¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, then treat him like a person who does not believe in God or like a tax collector.

¹⁸“I tell you the truth, the things you don’t allow on earth will be the things God does not allow. And the things you allow on earth will be the things that God allows.

¹⁹“Also, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about something and pray for it, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. ²⁰This is true because if two or three people come together in my name, I am there with them.”

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Footnotes

nThe … people. Some Greek copies do not contain the bracketed text.
nagainst you Some Greek copies do not have “against you.”
n‘Every … witnesses.’ Quotation from Deuteronomy 19:15.