Luke 19:15-27

¹⁵After he had been crowned king he returned. He ordered his servants brought to him. He wanted to know what profit they had made by investing the money he had given them.

¹⁶The first servant came in and said, ‘Lord, your money has earned ten times as much.’

¹⁷‘Well done! You're a good servant,’ said the king. ‘Since you proved yourself trustworthy in a very small matter, I'm placing you in charge of ten cities.’

¹⁸The second servant came in and said, ‘Lord, your money has earned five times as much.’

¹⁹‘I'm placing you in charge of five cities,’ said the king.

²⁰Another servant came in and said, ‘Lord, look, here's your money back. I kept it safe, wrapped up in a cloth.

²¹I was afraid of you because you're a hard man. You take what doesn't belong to you, and you harvest what you didn't plant.’

²²‘I'll judge you by your own words,’ the king replied. ‘You know I'm a hard man, who as you say, takes what doesn't belong to me, and I harvest what I didn't plant.

²³Why then didn't you deposit my money in the bank, so that when I returned I could have had my money with interest?’

²⁴The king told those who were standing beside him, ‘Take the money away from him, and give it to the one who made ten times as much.’

²⁵‘But master, he already has ten times as much,’ they replied.

²⁶The king said, ‘I tell you, to those who have, more will be given; but those who do not have, even what they have will be taken away from them.

²⁷And as for my enemies who didn't want me to be king over them, bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”