Given the context, the two or three gathered for prayer in verses 19-20 must be the two or three witnesses of 18:16. Whereas in Deuteronomy 17:6-7 the two or three witnesses were to be the first to cast stones, here they are to be the first to pray. While this could refer to the negative prayer of execration (which may have been more of a curse-compare 1 Cor 5:5), in this context of forgiveness the prayer may represent a prayer for ultimate restoration (though compare 1 Jn 5:16). Jewish excommunication even in its long-term form was normally reversible if repentance took place (p. Mo`ed Qatan 3:1, 11; though compare the extreme cases in 1QS 7.1-2, 16-17, 24-25).