The Parable of the Ten Minas
11 While the people were listening to this, Jesus proceeded to tell them a parable, because He was near Jerusalem and they thought the kingdom of God would appear imminently.
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So He said, “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to lay claim to his kingship and then return.
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Beforehand, he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Conduct business with this until I return,’ he said.
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But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’
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When he returned from procuring his kingship, he summoned the servants to whom he had given the money, to find out what each one had earned.
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The first servant came forward and said, ‘Master, your mina has produced ten more minas.’
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His master replied, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, you shall have authority over ten cities.’
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The second servant came and said, ‘Master, your mina has made five minas.’
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And to this one he said, ‘You shall have authority over five cities.’
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Then another servant came and said, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have laid away in a piece of cloth.
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For I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man. You withdraw what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.’
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His master replied, ‘You wicked servant, I will judge you by your own words. So you knew that I am a harsh man, withdrawing what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow?
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Why then did you not deposit my money in the bank, and upon my return I could have collected it with interest?’
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Then he told those standing by, ‘Take the mina from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’
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‘Master,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’
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He replied, ‘I tell you that everyone who has will be given more; but the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
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And these enemies of mine who were unwilling for me to rule over them, bring them here and slay them in front of me.’”