Matthew 18:6 Explained in Context

Selected verse

Verse 6. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

Warns that causing a believing little one to stumble merits severe millstone imagery.

Read It With

Matthew 18:6–18:9

Read Matthew 18:6 with 18:6–18:9. In isolation, this verse's contribution—warns that causing a believing little one to stumble merits severe millstone imagery—can be detached from its speaker, audience, narrative or teaching sequence, and outcome. The complete unit establishes: Jesus warns against causing little ones to stumble, pronounces woe on sources of stumbling, and uses drowning, cutting, and plucking imagery to demand decisive prevention.

Why This Verse Appears Here

Warns that causing a believing little one to stumble merits severe millstone imagery. This precise contribution belongs inside “Causing vulnerable disciples to stumble brings severe warning” because Jesus warns against causing little ones to stumble, pronounces woe on sources of stumbling, and uses drowning, cutting, and plucking imagery to demand decisive prevention.

Follow the Context

Jesus warns against causing little ones to stumble, pronounces woe on sources of stumbling, and uses drowning, cutting, and plucking imagery to demand decisive prevention.
The body-removal language is hyperbole, while the millstone image emphasizes the gravity of harming vulnerable people rather than prescribing execution.
This warning does not command self-harm or violence, conceal abuse, protect institutions, or reduce safeguarding to private temptation management.

Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation

“little ones”

In plain language: vulnerable or low-status disciples represented by the child

Warns that causing a believing little one to stumble merits severe millstone imagery. Jesus warns against causing little ones to stumble, pronounces woe on sources of stumbling, and uses drowning, cutting, and plucking imagery to demand decisive prevention.

Why it matters: vulnerable or low-status disciples represented by the child

How certain? probable

What This Verse Is Not Saying

This verse does not detach its specific contribution—warns that causing a believing little one to stumble merits severe millstone imagery—from the complete unit or override the unit's explicit boundary: This warning does not command self-harm or violence, conceal abuse, protect institutions, or reduce safeguarding to private temptation management.

What Remains True

Jesus warns against causing little ones to stumble, pronounces woe on sources of stumbling, and uses drowning, cutting, and plucking imagery to demand decisive prevention. Matthew 18:6's proportionate contribution is this: Warns that causing a believing little one to stumble merits severe millstone imagery.

How It Can Shape Life

Matthew 18:6 contributes this specific claim: Warns that causing a believing little one to stumble merits severe millstone imagery. Respond decisively when power causes vulnerable people to stumble, using safeguarding and lawful accountability rather than literalized violence, self-harm, or institutional concealment.

Teach It Back

Explain how Matthew 18:6 warns that causing a believing little one to stumble merits severe millstone imagery. Then identify its speaker or narrator, first Jewish and scriptural setting, one affected person, the material uncertainty, and the specific conclusion this verse does not authorize.

Explain the verse in context

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Continue in Context

The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.

Read Matthew 18:6–18:9 — Causing vulnerable disciples to stumble brings severe warning

Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? probable

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and thought-unit coverage.

Exact location: Matthew 18:6–18:9, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus

Open source ↗

Greek textual evidence

The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition

Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos

Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010

Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control without treating one edition as a complete apparatus.

Exact location: SBLGNT official text file data/sblgnt/text/Matt.txt, Matthew 18:6–18:9

Open the Matthew Greek text file ↗

Lexical and grammatical evidence

STEP Bible Data

Tyndale House Cambridge

Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026

Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for the expressions actually discussed in this thought unit.

Exact location: STEP Bible Data TAGNT rows for Matthew 18:6–18:9

Open source ↗

open translation and translator notes

NET Bible: Matthew with Translators' and Textual Notes

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, 2005-2026 online edition

Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, historical, Jewish-background, and Synoptic notes for this unit.

Exact location: NET Bible Matthew PDF, printed pp. 1808-1867, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 18:6–18:9

Open source ↗

open university bible study course

The Gospel of Matthew Course and Study Guides

Harold W. Attridge and Michal Beth Dinkler

Yale Bible Study, Yale Divinity School, current 2026 online edition

Supports: Critical literary orientation with source, setting, historical, and theological judgments retained as interpretations.

Exact location: Yale Bible Study, course unit 'The Beloved Community,' Matthew 17-20 study guide

Open source ↗

open seminary bible study course

Matthew Course

James L. Boyce; revised by Kristofer Phan Coffman

Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, 2023 revision

Supports: Whole-book orientation and unit placement, including visible uncertainty about authorship, date, setting, and purpose.

Exact location: Enter the Bible Matthew course, 'Summary,' 'Outline,' 'Background,' 'Introductory Issues,' 'Theological Themes,' and passage index entry for Matthew 18:6–18:9

Open source ↗

open confessional commentary

Matthew

Douglas Sean O'Donnell

The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, current 2026 online edition

Supports: One complete confessional reading checked against the text, critical scholarship, and Jewish-context controls.

Exact location: O'Donnell, online Matthew commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Matthew 18:6–18:9

Open source ↗

scholarly annotated translation

Matthew, in The Jewish Annotated New Testament

Aaron M. Gale; edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler

Aaron M. Gale, Matthew introduction and annotations, print pp. 1-54; related essays and sidebars in The Jewish Annotated New Testament, first edition.

Supports: Jewish setting, Scripture, Torah debate, named groups, practices, and anti-Judaism control at the passage address.

Exact location: Gale, Matthew introduction and verse-addressed annotations, first-edition print pp. 1-54, exact annotation at Matthew 18:6–18:9

Open source ↗

Open the complete thought-unit research record