¹² “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. ¹³ About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. ¹⁴ We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice^(A) saying to me in Aramaic,^[a](B) ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵ “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

“ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ¹⁶ ‘Now get up and stand on your feet.^(C) I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.^{(D) 17} I will rescue you^(E) from your own people and from the Gentiles.^(F) I am sending you to them ¹⁸ to open their eyes^(G) and turn them from darkness to light,^(H) and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins^(I) and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’^(J)

¹⁹ “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient^(K) to the vision from heaven. ²⁰ First to those in Damascus,^(L) then to those in Jerusalem^(M) and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles,^(N) I preached that they should repent^(O) and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.^{(P) 21} That is why some Jews seized me^(Q) in the temple courts and tried to kill me.^{(R) 22} But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen^(S)— ²³ that the Messiah would suffer^(T) and, as the first to rise from the dead,^(U) would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”^(V)

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

²¹ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?^(A) Up to seven times?”^(B)

²² Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.^[a](C)

²³ “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like^(D) a king who wanted to settle accounts^(E) with his servants. ²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold^[b] was brought to him. ²⁵ Since he was not able to pay,^(F) the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold^(G) to repay the debt.

²⁶ “At this the servant fell on his knees before him.^(H) ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ ²⁷ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

²⁸ “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.^[c] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

²⁹ “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

³⁰ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹ When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

³² “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

³⁵ “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”^(I)