Rhyming Redsong: Matthew 18 (The Greatest in the Kingdom; Forgiveness; the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant)

Rhyming Redsong: Matthew 18 (The Greatest in the Kingdom; Forgiveness; the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant)

At that time the disciples came to him,
to Jesus, they asked, “Who’s the greatest in
the kingdom of it, heav’n?” To him, he bade
a little child, and, them, amongst, he placed
the child. And he said: “Truly, you, I tell,
unless you change, become like children, li’l,
to heaven’s kingdom, enter, never, you’ll.
Therefore, whoever, the position takes,
the lowly one, this child’s, he is most great
in heaven’s kingdom. Whoe’er in my name
one such child, welcomes, welcomes me the same.

“If anyone would cause just one of these,
ones, little—those who do believe in me—
to stumble, it would, better, have, to, be,
a millstone, large, their neck, hung weightily,
around and be drowned in its depths, the sea’s.
Woe to the world ‘cause all the things that cause,
to stumble, people! Such things, then, come, must,
but woe to, persons, such, through, they come, whom.
If your hand or your foot, it causes you
to stumble, what it is that you should do:
cut it off and throw it, from you, away.
It’s better for you to, life enter, maimed
or crippled than to have two hands and feet,
and fire eternal, into it, thrown, be.
If your eye’d cause you stumbling, downwardly,
it, outwards gouge, and too, away, throw it.
It’s better for you to life, enter, with
a single eye than to have eyes, them, both,
and be, into the fire of hell, there, thrown.

“See that you don’t despise, not one of these,
ones, little. For I tell you that his face
is what it is their angels always see
in heav’n, my Father’s. What is it you think?
If he, a man owns them, a hundred sheep
and one of them would wander, will not he
upon the hills, the ninety-nine, there, leave,
and go look for the one gone wandering.
And if he finds it, I say certainly,
he’s happier about that single sheep
than ‘bout the ninety-nine that didn’t stray.
Your Father, who’s in heav’n, in the same way,
is willing, not, that any, little ones,
of these, should perish. If they, either, sin,
your brothers, sisters, go, their fault, out, point,
but do so, just the two of you, between.
If, listen, they, to you, you’ve, o’er them, won.
But if they will not listen take along
one or two others so that, matters, each
may ‘stablished, be, by witnesses, two, three,
their testimony. If they still refuse
to listen, then you, tell it to the church
and if they, even to the church, don’t choose,
to listen, then just treat them, you would, as
a pagan or collector of the tax.

“I tell you truly whate’er you on earth
would bind will be bound up in heaven, sure,
whate’er you loose on earth, in heaven, loosed.

“Again, I tell you truly, that if two
of you on earth ‘bout anything agree
they ask for, it, for them will certainly
be done by him, my Father, heavenly.
For where’er two or three would gather in
my name, there I am in, of them, the midst.

Then Peter came to Jesus, asked of him,
“How many times shall I forgive my kin,
my brother, sister, when they, ‘gainst me, sin?
Up to times, seven?” Answered, Jesus, this:
“I tell you, truly, it’s not seven times,
but seventy times seven. Therefore, like
a king, the kingdom, heaven, of, it is
who wished to settle all accounts of his
with servants, his. As he, the settlement
began, a man who, bags of gold, owed him,
ten thousand, was brought to him. Since he was
not able to pay, ordered, master, the
that he, his wife, his children, all he had,
so that the debt could be repaid, be sold.

“At this the servant fell down on his knees
before him. Begged, he, ‘Patient, be with me,
and I will pay back everything I owe.’
The master, pity, on the servant, showed.
The debt he canceled and he let him go.

“But when that servant went out he soon found
one of his fellow servants who, him, owed
a hundred silver coins. He then, him, seized,
and him, began to choke. ‘Pay back to me
what you owe!’ he demanded. To his knees,
his fellow servant fell and, of him, begged,
‘Be patient with me and I’ll, it, back, pay.’
But he refused. He went off and instead,
the man, had, thrown to prison till he had
paid back the debt, entirely, that he owed.

When what had happened, and the servants saw,
the others, they were outraged and they went
and told their master, had occurred, all what.

The other servants saw these happenings,
and when they did, they were outraged at him,
they went and, what occurred, the master, told.

“The master then, the servant, back in, called.
He said, ‘You are a servant, very wick’d.
I cancelled all of yours, your massive debt
because you begged me to. Shan’t you express
upon your fellow servant, mercy, just
the same as I had on you?’ Then, o’er as well,
the master, to the keeper of the jail,
the servant, handed, to be tortured till
he paid him back, all that he owed, in full.

“This how my Father in the heavenlies
the way how he, each one of you, will treat
unless you would forgive them in your heart,
your brother, sister, closest to you, start.”