The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant – Bible Story for Kids

This is a simplified version of the Bible story found in Matthew 18:21-35, written for children to understand. For the original version, please refer to the Bible passage.

Once, Jesus’ disciple Peter asked Him, “How many times should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” Jesus replied, “No, not just seven times. You should forgive them seventy-seven times!”

Jesus then told them a story about a king who wanted to settle his accounts with his servants. One servant owed the king ten thousand talents, which was a lot of money – more than he could ever pay back. The king ordered that the servant, along with his wife and children and all his possessions, be sold to pay the debt.

But the servant fell to his knees and begged the king, “Please be patient with me, and I will pay everything back.” The king felt sorry for the servant and forgave him the entire debt!

Later, that same servant found one of his fellow servants who owed him only a hundred denarii, which was a much smaller amount of money. He grabbed the servant by the throat and said, “Pay me what you owe!” The other servant begged, “Please give me some time, and I will pay you back.” But the first servant refused and had the other servant thrown into jail.

When the other servants saw what had happened, they were very upset and went to tell the king everything. The king was angry and summoned the first servant. He said, “You are a wicked servant! I forgave you all that money because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have shown mercy to your fellow servant, just as I showed mercy to you?” The king then had the servant thrown into jail until he could pay back everything he owed.

Jesus finished the story by saying that God will treat us the same way if we don’t forgive others from our hearts.

Biblical Lessons

We should forgive others, even if they hurt us many times.
God has forgiven us of our sins, so we should forgive others who sin against us.
If we don’t forgive others, we won’t receive God’s forgiveness.

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