1. Then Jesus began to teach His disciples saying, "Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks. Such stumbling blocks must come, but woe to the one through whom they come.
2. "If your hand or foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into hell.
3. "If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fires of hell.
4. "For it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that even one of his children should perish."
5. Then Peter asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my neighbor if he sins against me? Seven times?"
6. Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but seventy times seven.
7. "For this reason, the kingdom of God may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.
8. "As he began to settle their accounts, one was brought to him who owed ten thousand talents, but the servant did not have the means to pay, so his lord commanded him to be sold as a slave, along with his wife and children, and all that he had in order to make the repayment.
9. "But the servant fell to the ground and begged his lord saying, 'Please lord, give me just a little more time, and I will repay everything to you.'
10. "And the lord felt compassion for his servant and released him, while at the same time forgiving all his debt.
11. "But the servant went out and found one who was a servant to him and owed him money, and he seized him and began to assault him, saying, 'Payback everything you owe me.'
12. "So his fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will repay everything.'
13. "But the servant was unwilling and had him thrown in prison until he could pay back what was owed to him.
14. "Deeply grieved, the other servants went to the lord and told him everything that had happened. And the lord re-summoned his servant.
15. "And he said to him, 'You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Why did you not have mercy on those who owed you money, just as I had with you?'
16. "And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he repaid all that was owed to him.
17. "Your heavenly Father will do the same with you, if each of you does not forgive your brother or sister from your heart."
18. Then some Pharisees came to Jesus and tested Him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?"
19. And He answered them saying, "Have you not learned that God, from the beginning, created them male and female and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two of them shall become one flesh'?
20. "So they are no longer two but one, and what God has joined together, let no one tear asunder.
21. "Divorce was never intended from the beginning, and therefore anyone who divorces their spouse, except for infidelity, and then marries another, is committing adultery."
22. So His disciples said to Him, "If marriage is like this, perhaps a person should never marry."
23. And Jesus said, "Not everyone can accept this, but only those to whom it has been given.
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