Matthew 18:14 (LSB)

Passage

In this way, it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

Nearby Context

Matthew 18:12 “What do you think? If any man has one hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?

Matthew 18:13 And if it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.

Matthew 18:14 In this way, it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

Matthew 18:15 “Now if your brother sins, go and show him his fault, between you and him alone; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.

Matthew 18:16 But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "father", "heaven", "little", "ones", and "perish". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "father" and "heaven", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 13's "And if it turns out that he..." into verse 15's "Now if your brother sins go and...", so "father" and "heaven" belong inside that flow. In Matthew context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "father" and "heaven" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.