15
And upon his return, after he had obtained the sovereignty, he ordered those servants to whom he had given the money to be summoned before him, that he might learn their success in trading.
16
"So the first came and said, "`Sir, your pound has produced ten pounds more.'
17
"`Well done, good servant,' he replied; `because you have been faithful in a very small matter, be in authority over ten towns.'
18
"The second came, and said, "`Your pound, Sir, has produced five pounds.'
19
"So he said to this one also, "`And you, be the governor of five towns.'
20
"The next came. "`Sir,' he said, `here is your pound, which I have kept wrapt up in a cloth.
21
For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man: you take up what you did not lay down, and you reap what you did not sow.'
22
"`By your own words,' he replied, `I will judge you, you bad servant. You knew me to be a severe man, taking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow:
23
why then did you not put my money into a bank, that when I came I might have received it back with interest?
24
"And he said to those who stood by, "`Take the pound from him and give it to him who has the ten pounds.'
25
("They said to him, "`Sir, he already has ten pounds.')