Mat 18:29 And his fellow servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.


Very like Mat 18:26 where the service fell down before the master, there is a small but important difference. In the first verse, the servant fell down and "worshipped" his lord. The word "worshipped" is from proskuneô, which means "make obeisance," "fall down and worship," and specifically means to prostrate yourself before authority, as we would use the Chinese term, "kowtow."

In this verse, the fellow servant falls down and "besought" his fellow servant. The term translated as "besought" is parakaleô, which means "call in," "summon," "address", "demand," and "beseech." It means literally "call closer." In the beatitudes, this is the term that is translated as "comfort," as in, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comfortable," but that is the only place that it is translated that way.

In this difference of a single word, Christ recognizes a difference in the relationship between God and a person and people's relationships with each other. We can only worship God at a distance, but we can try to get closer to one another.

"Have patience" is from makrothumeô, which means "to be long-suffering," "to persevere," and "to bear patiently."

"Pay" is from is from apodidômi, which means literally, "give back" or "give up," and also means "restore," "return," "yeild," "give account," and "sell."