16. But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses.
17. If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.
18. “I tell you the truth, whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.
19. “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you.
20. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.”
21. Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”
22. “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!
23. “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him.
24. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.
25. He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.
26. “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’
27. Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.
28. “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.