the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
had begun
ἄρχομαιárchomai
G756
to commence (in order of time)
to reckon
συναίρεινsunairein
G4868
to make up together · verb — present active infinitive
one
εἷςheis
G1520
one · adjective — nominative singular masculine
was brought
προσηνέχθηprosēnechthē
G4374
to bear towards · verb — aorist passive indicative, 3rd person singular
unto him
αὐτῷautō
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular masculine
which owed him
ὀφειλέτηςopheiletēs
G3781
an ower · noun — nominative singular masculine
ten thousand
μυρίωνmuriōn
G3463
ten thousand · adjective — genitive plural neuter
talents
ταλάντων.talantōn
G5007
equivalent to G5342 (φέρω)) · noun — genitive plural neuter
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 38:4 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
Psalms 130:3-4 If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
Ezra 9:6 And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our tresp…
Psalms 40:12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than…
Luke 13:4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
Luke 16:5 So he called every one of his lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord?
1 Chronicles 29:7 And gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten thousand talents, and o…
Luke 7:41-42 There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Matthew 18:1–end
As there never was a greater pattern of humility, so there never was a greater preacher of it, than Christ; he took all occasions to command it, to commend it, to his disciples and followers.
I. The occasion of this discourse concerning humility was an unbecoming contest among the disciples for precedency; they came to him, saying, among themselves (for they were ashamed to ask him, Mar 9:34), Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? They mean not, who by character (then the question had been good, that they might know what graces and duties to excel in), but who by name. They had heard much, and preached much, of the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of the Messiah, his church in this wor…
And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents--If Attic talents are here meant, 10,000 of them would amount to above a million and a half sterling; if Jewish talents, to a much larger sum.
John Gill on Matthew 18:24
And when he had begun to reckon,.... To open the book of conscience, and to bring to account by some awakening providence, and strong conviction: one was brought unto him; whether he would or no, through the force of an awakened conscience, under guilt and terror;
which owed him ten thousand talents; which must be understood, either of gold, or silver: a talent of silver contained 3,000 shekels, as appears from Exodus 38:25, and was in value of our money 375l. but a talent of gold was equal to 4,500l. of our (f) money. According to Dr. Prideaux (g), a talent of silver was 450l. and a talent of gold, the proportion of gold to silver being reckoned as sixteen to one, was 7,200l. and according…
Matthew 18:21-35
Matthew 18:21-35
Luke 17:4
21. Then Peter approaching him said, Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? 22. Jesus saith to him, I say not to thee till seven times, but till seventy times seven. 23. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is compared to a king, who wished to make a reckoning with his servants. 24. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought to him who owed ten thousand talents. 25. But as he was unable to pay, his master commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26. And that servant falling down, entreated him, saying, Master, have patience with me, and I…
The Church Fathers
(Serm. 83, 6.) Therefore let us say, that because the Law is set forth in ten precepts, the ten thousand talents which he owed denote all sins which can be done under the Law. (Quæst. Ev. i. 25.) This signifies that the transgressor of the decalogue deserves punishment for his lusts and evil deeds; and that is his price; for the price for which they sell is the punishment of him that is damned.
I know that some interpret the man who owed the ten thousand talents to be the devil, and by his wife and children who were to be sold when he persevered in his wickedness, understand foolishness, and hurtful thoughts. For as wisdom is called the wife of the righteous man, so the wife of the unrighteous and the sinner is called foolishness. But how the Lord remits to the devil ten thousand talents, and how he would not remit ten denarii to us his fellow-servants, of this there is no ecclesiastical interpretation, nor is it to be admitted by thoughtful men.
The King takes account of our, whole life then, when we must all be presented before the judgment-seat of Christ. (2 Cor. 5:10.) We mean not this so as that any should think that the business itself must needs require a long time. For God, when He will scrutinize the minds of all, will by some undescribable power cause every thing that every man has done to pass speedily before the mind of each. He says, And when he began to take account, because the beginning of the judgment is that it begin from the house of God. (1 Pet. 4:17.) At His beginning to take account there is brought unto Him one who owes Him many talents; one, that is, who had wrought great evils; one on whom much had been enjoined, and had yet brought no gain; who perhaps had destroyed as many men as he owed talents; one who was therefore become a debtor of many talents, because he had followed the woman sitting upon a talent of lead, whose name is Iniquity. (Zech. 5:7.)
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Talent — Of silver contained 3,000 shekels (Ex. 38:25, 26), and was equal to 94 3/7 lbs. avoirdupois. The Greek talent, however, as in the LXX., was only 82 1/4 lbs. It was in the form of a circular mass, as…
Charitableness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Creditor · MERCIFUL — MERCIFUL
Debtor · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Forgiveness · OF ENEMIES — OF ENEMIES
Forgiveness Of Injuries · Illustrated — Illustrated
Kingdom Of Heaven · .To a king who — .To a king who
Mercy · Denunciations against those devoid of — Denunciations against those devoid of
Parables · Parables of christ: Unmerciful servant — Parables of christ: Unmerciful servant
Talent · .Parables of the — .Parables of the
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
millions of dollars (Greek 10,000 talents): The talent was the highest unit of currency, but its value fluctuated. The debt was clearly impossible to pay—this amount exceeded the tax revenue of all Galilee.
