Luke 19:23

23 And why did you not give my money to the bank, and I, [when I] returned, would have collected it with interest?'

Luke 19:23 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 19:23

Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank,
&c.] Or "on the table", at which the bankers sat, and received and delivered money on interest. The Complutensian edition reads, "to the tablers", or "bankers": had Christ been such a person as he represents him, he ought to have been the more diligent, and made the greater use of his gifts, since he knew that he would, in a rigid manner, as he suggests, demand an account of them:

that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?
not that Christ approves of usury in an unlawful way, by extortion, but reproves hereby the sloth of this man, and exposes his folly and wickedness upon his own principles.

Luke 19:23 In-Context

21 For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man--you withdraw what you did not deposit, and you reap what you did not sow!'
22 He said to him, '{By your own words} I will judge you, wicked slave! You knew that I am a severe man, withdrawing what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow.
23 And why did you not give my money to the bank, and I, [when I] returned, would have collected it with interest?'
24 And to the bystanders he said, 'Take away from him the mina and give [it] to the one who has the ten minas!'
25 And they said to him, 'Sir, he has ten minas.'

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("returned") which is understood as temporal
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.