Luke 19:11–27

A Story About Three Servants

¹¹As the people were listening to this, Jesus told them a story because he was near Jerusalem and they thought God’s kingdom would appear immediately. ¹²He said: “A very important man went to a country far away to be made a king and then to return home. ¹³So he called ten of his servants and gave a coin ⁿ to each servant. He said, ‘Do business with this money until I get back.’ ¹⁴But the people in the kingdom hated the man. So they sent a group to follow him and say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’

¹⁵“But the man became king. When he returned home, he said, ‘Call those servants who have my money so I can know how much they earned with it.’

¹⁶“The first servant came and said, ‘Sir, I earned ten coins with the one you gave me.’ ¹⁷The king said to the servant, ‘Excellent! You are a good servant. Since I can trust you with small things, I will let you rule over ten of my cities.’

¹⁸“The second servant said, ‘Sir, I earned five coins with your one.’ ¹⁹The king said to this servant, ‘You can rule over five cities.’

²⁰“Then another servant came in and said to the king, ‘Sir, here is your coin which I wrapped in a piece of cloth and hid. ²¹I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You even take money that you didn’t earn and gather food that you didn’t plant.’ ²²Then the king said to the servant, ‘I will condemn you by your own words, you evil servant. You knew that I am a hard man, taking money that I didn’t earn and gathering food that I didn’t plant. ²³Why then didn’t you put my money in the bank? Then when I came back, my money would have earned some interest.’

²⁴“The king said to the men who were standing by, ‘Take the coin away from this servant and give it to the servant who earned ten coins.’ ²⁵They said, ‘But sir, that servant already has ten coins.’ ²⁶The king said, ‘Those who have will be given more, but those who do not have anything will have everything taken away from them. ²⁷Now where are my enemies who didn’t want me to be king? Bring them here and kill them before me.’ ”