12 So He said, “aA nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return.

13 “And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten 1minas and said to them, ‘Do business with this 2until I come back.’

14 “But his citizens hated him and sent 1a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’

15 “When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know what business they had done.

16 “The first appeared, saying, ‘1Master, your 2mina has made ten minas more.’

17 “And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been afaithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.’

18 “The second came, saying, ‘Your 1mina, 2master, has made five minas.’

19 “And he said to him also, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’

20 “Another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief;

21 for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.’

22 “He * said to him, ‘1By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?

23 ‘Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?’

24 “Then he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’

25 “And they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas already.’

26 “aI tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.