16
Then came the first, saying, `Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.'
17
And he said unto him, `Well done, thou good servant; because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.'
18
And the second came, saying, `Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.'
19
And he said likewise to him, `Be thou also over five cities.'
20
And another came, saying, `Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid away in a napkin.
21
For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up what thou layest not down, and reapest what thou did not sow.'
22
And he said unto him, `Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up what I laid not down and reaping what I did not sow.
23
Why then gavest not thou my money unto the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with interest?'
24
And he said unto them that stood by, `Take from him the pound and give it to him that hath ten pounds.'
25
(And they said unto him, `Lord, he hath ten pounds!')
26
`For I say unto you, that unto every one that hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him.