Luke 19:15-19

19:15 When ¹  he returned after receiving the kingdom, he summoned ²  these slaves to whom he had given the money. He wanted ³  to know how much they had earned ⁴  by trading. 19:16 So ⁵  the first one came before him and said, ‘Sir, ⁶  your mina ⁷  has made ten minas more.’ 19:17 And the king ⁸  said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been faithful ⁹  in a very small matter, you will have authority ¹⁰  over ten cities.’ 19:18 Then ¹¹  the second one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made five minas.’ 19:19 So ¹²  the king ¹³  said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’

[19:15]  ¹ tn Grk “And it happened that when.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[19:15]  ² tn Grk “he said for these slaves to be called to him.” The passive construction has been translated as an active one and simplified to “he summoned.”

[19:15]  ³ tn Grk “in order that he might know” (a continuation of the preceding sentence). Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronoun “he” as subject and the verb “wanted” to convey the idea of purpose.

[19:15]  ⁴ sn The Greek verb earned refers to profit from engaging in commerce and trade (L&N 57.195). This is an examination of stewardship.

[19:16]  ⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the royal summons.

[19:16]  ⁶ tn Or “Lord”; or “Master.” (and so throughout this paragraph).

[19:16]  ⁷ tn See the note on the word “minas” in v. 13.

[19:17]  ⁸ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the nobleman of v. 12, now a king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:17]  ⁹ tn See Luke 16:10.

[19:17]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[19:19]  ¹² tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the second slave’s report.

[19:19]  ¹³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the nobleman of v. 12, now a king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.