Luke 19:16-26

19:16 So ¹  the first one came before him and said, ‘Sir, ²  your mina ³  has made ten minas more.’ 19:17 And the king ⁴  said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been faithful ⁵  in a very small matter, you will have authority ⁶  over ten cities.’ 19:18 Then ⁷  the second one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made five minas.’ 19:19 So ⁸  the king ⁹  said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ 19:20 Then another ¹⁰  slave ¹¹  came and said, ‘Sir, here is ¹²  your mina that I put away for safekeeping ¹³  in a piece of cloth. ¹⁴  19:21 For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe ¹⁵  man. You withdraw ¹⁶  what you did not deposit ¹⁷  and reap what you did not sow.’ 19:22 The king ¹⁸  said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, ¹⁹  you wicked slave! ²⁰  So you knew, did you, that I was a severe ²¹  man, withdrawing what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow? 19:23 Why then didn’t you put ²²  my money in the bank, ²³  so that when I returned I could have collected it with interest?’ 19:24 And he said to his attendants, ²⁴  ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has ten.’ ²⁵  19:25 But ²⁶  they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten minas already!’ ²⁷  19:26 ‘I tell you that everyone who has will be given more, ²⁸  but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. ²⁹ 

[19:16]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the royal summons.

[19:16]  ² tn Or “Lord”; or “Master.” (and so throughout this paragraph).

[19:16]  ³ tn See the note on the word “minas” in v. 13.

[19:17]  ⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the nobleman of v. 12, now a king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:17]  ⁵ tn See Luke 16:10.

[19:17]  ⁶ sn The faithful slave received expanded responsibility (authority over ten cities) as a result of his faithfulness; this in turn is an exhortation to faithfulness for the reader.

[19:18]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[19:19]  ⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the second slave’s report.

[19:19]  ⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the nobleman of v. 12, now a king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:20]  ¹⁰ sn Though ten were given minas, the story stops to focus on the one who did nothing with the opportunity given to him. Here is the parable’s warning about the one who does not trust the master. This figure is called “another,” marking him out as different than the first two.

[19:20]  ¹¹ tn The word “slave” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied for stylistic reasons.

[19:20]  ¹² tn Grk “behold.”

[19:20]  ¹³ tn Or “that I stored away.” L&N 85.53 defines ἀπόκειμαι (apokeimai) here as “to put something away for safekeeping – ‘to store, to put away in a safe place.’”

[19:20]  ¹⁴ tn The piece of cloth, called a σουδάριον (soudarion), could have been a towel, napkin, handkerchief, or face cloth (L&N 6.159).

[19:21]  ¹⁵ tn Or “exacting,” “harsh,” “hard.”

[19:21]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “man, taking out.” The Greek word can refer to withdrawing money from a bank (L&N 57.218), and in this context of financial accountability that is the most probable meaning. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronoun “you” as subject and translating the participle αἴρεις (airei") as a finite verb.

[19:21]  ¹⁷ tn The Greek verb τίθημι (tiqhmi) can be used of depositing money with a banker to earn interest (L&N 57.217). In effect the slave charges that the master takes what he has not earned.

[19:22]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “He”; the referent (the nobleman of v. 12, now a king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:22]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “out of your own mouth” (an idiom).

[19:22]  ²⁰ tn Note the contrast between this slave, described as “wicked,” and the slave in v. 17, described as “good.”

[19:22]  ²¹ tn Or “exacting,” “harsh,” “hard.”

[19:23]  ²² tn That is, “If you really feared me why did you not do a minimum to get what I asked for?”

[19:23]  ²³ tn Grk “on the table”; the idiom refers to a place where money is kept or managed, or credit is established, thus “bank” (L&N 57.215).

[19:24]  ²⁴ tn Grk “to those standing by,” but in this context involving an audience before the king to give an accounting, these would not be casual bystanders but courtiers or attendants.

[19:24]  ²⁵ tn Grk “the ten minas.”

[19:25]  ²⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context. Those watching the evaluation are shocked, as the one with the most gets even more. The word “already” is supplied at the end of the statement to indicate this surprise and shock.

[19:25]  ²⁷ tc A few mss (D W 69 pc and a few versional witnesses) omit this verse either to harmonize it with Matt 25:28-29 or to keep the king’s speech seamless.

[19:26]  ²⁸ tn Grk “to everyone who has, he will be given more.”

[19:26]  ²⁹ sn The one who has nothing has even what he seems to have taken away from him, ending up with no reward at all (see also Luke 8:18). The exact force of this is left ambiguous, but there is no comfort here for those who are pictured by the third slave as being totally unmoved by the master. Though not an outright enemy, there is no relationship to the master either. Three groups are represented in the parable: the faithful of various sorts (vv. 16, 18); the unfaithful who associate with Jesus but do not trust him (v. 21); and the enemies (v. 27).