Jesus' story about a man's 10 servants
11 While the people were still listening, Jesus told them a story. He did this because the people had wrong thoughts about the kingdom of God. Jesus was now getting near to Jerusalem. So the people with him were thinking that God's kingdom would soon come.
12 Jesus said to them, ‘An important man left his home and he travelled a long way to another country. He went there to receive authority to rule his own country. After that, he would return home and he would be king. 13 Before he left, he asked ten of his servants to come to him. He gave each of them ten bags of silver coins. He told them, “Use this money to get more money for me while I am away.”
19:13A man would receive this much money if he worked for 100 days.
14 But the people who lived in this man's country did not like him. So they sent some of their people to the foreign country with a message. They said, “We do not want this man to rule as king over us.”
15 Then the man returned home and he was now their king. He asked his ten servants who had received the money to come to him. He wanted to know how they had used the money and how much more money they had now.
16 The first servant came to him and said, “Master, your money has produced ten more bags of silver coins for you.” 17 The king was happy and said to his servant, “You have done well. You are a good servant that I can trust. You have used a small amount of money well. So now you will rule over ten cities.”
18 The second servant came and he said, “Master, your money has made five more bags of silver coins.” 19 The king replied, “You will rule over five cities.”
20 Then another servant came. He said, “Master, here is your money. I put it away in a piece of cloth to keep it safe. 21 I did this because I was afraid of you. You tell people what they should do all the time. You take things that do not belong to you. You take food from fields where you did not plant any seed.”
22 The king replied, “You are a very bad servant! I will use your own words to show you that you have done the wrong thing. You say that I tell people what they should do all the time. You say that I take things that do not belong to me. You say that I take food from fields where I did not plant any seed. If you know all that about me, 23 you should have put my money into the bank. Then, when I came home, I would have received my money back, with some extra money.”
24 Some other servants were standing near to their master. He said to them, “Take the money from this bad servant. Give it to the servant who has 10 bags of silver coins.” 25 But they replied, “Master, that servant already has ten bags of money.”
26 The king said, “Let me tell you this. Some people have received good things. They will all receive more. Some other people have nothing. Those people will lose even the little bit that they do have. 27 Now I must punish these other people who did not want me to rule over them. Bring them here and kill them in front of me.” ’
