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Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was
near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear
immediately.
12
Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a
far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.
13
So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them
ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’
14
But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation
after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’
15
“And so it was that when he returned, having
received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had
given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every
man had gained by trading.
16
Then came the first, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten
minas.’
17
And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant;
because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten
cities.’
18
And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your mina
has earned five minas.’
19
Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five
cities.’
20
“Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is
your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief.
21
For I feared you, because you are an austere man.
You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not
sow.’
22
And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will
judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man,
collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow.
23
Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that
at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’
24
“And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the
mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.’
25
(But they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten
minas.’)
26
‘For I say to you, that to everyone who has will
be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken
away from him.
27
But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not
want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.’” |