Matthew 18:7-10
Context18:7 Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! It 1 is necessary that stumbling blocks come, but woe to the person through whom they come. 18:8 If 2 your hand or your foot causes you to sin, 3 cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to have 4 two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 18:9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye than to have 5 two eyes and be thrown into fiery hell. 6
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.
1 tn Grk “For it.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.
2 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
3 sn In Greek there is a wordplay that is difficult to reproduce in English here. The verb translated “causes…to sin” (σκανδαλίζω, skandalizw) comes from the same root as the word translated “stumbling blocks” (σκάνδαλον, skandalon) in the previous verse.
4 tn Grk “than having.”
5 tn Grk “than having.”
6 tn Grk “the Gehenna of fire.”
sn See the note on the word hell in 5:22.