A Story about Ten Servants

19 ¹¹ The crowd was still listening to Jesus as he was getting close to Jerusalem. Many of them thought that God’s kingdom would soon appear, ¹² and Jesus told them this story: A prince once went to a foreign country to be crowned king and then to return. ¹³ But before leaving, he called in ten servants and gave each of them some money. He told them, "Use this to earn more money until I get back." ¹⁴ But the people of his country hated him, and they sent messengers to the foreign country to say, "We don’t want this man to be our king." ¹⁵ After the prince had been made king, he returned and called in his servants. He asked them how much they had earned with the money they had been given. ¹⁶ The first servant came and said, "Sir, with the money you gave me I have earned ten times as much." ¹⁷ "That’s fine, my good servant!" the king said. "Since you have shown that you can be trusted with a small amount, you will be given ten cities to rule." ¹⁸ The second one came and said, "Sir, with the money you gave me, I have earned five times as much." ¹⁹ The king said, "You will be given five cities." ²⁰ Another servant came and said, "Sir, here is your money. I kept it safe in a handkerchief. ²¹ You are a hard man, and I was afraid of you. You take what isn’t yours, and you harvest crops you didn’t plant." ²² "You worthless servant!" the king told him. "You have condemned yourself by what you have just said. You knew that I am a hard man, taking what isn’t mine and harvesting what I’ve not planted. ²³ Why didn’t you put my money in the bank? On my return, I could have had the money together with interest." ²⁴ Then he said to some other servants standing there, "Take the money away from him and give it to the servant who earned ten times as much." ²⁵ But they said, "Sir, he already has ten times as much!" ²⁶ The king replied, "Those who have something will be given more. But everything will be taken away from those who don’t have anything. ²⁷ Now bring me the enemies who didn’t want me to be their king. Kill them while I watch!"