4. So running ahead, he climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus, since He was about to pass that way.
5. When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down because today I must stay at your house.”
6. So he quickly came down and welcomed Him joyfully.
7. All who saw it began to complain, “He’s gone to lodge with a sinful man! ”
8. But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, I’ll give half of my possessions to the poor, Lord! And if I have extorted anything from anyone, I’ll pay back four times as much! ”
9. “Today salvation has come to this house,” Jesus told him, “because he too is a son of Abraham.
10. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”
11. As they were listening to this, He went on to tell a parable because He was near Jerusalem, and they thought the kingdom of God was going to appear right away.
12. Therefore He said: “A nobleman traveled to a far country to receive for himself authority to be king and then return.
13. He called 10 of his slaves, gave them 10 minas, and told them, ‘Engage in business until I come back.’
14. “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this man to rule over us! ’
15. “At his return, having received the authority to be king, he summoned those slaves he had given the money to, so he could find out how much they had made in business.
16. The first came forward and said, ‘Master, your mina has earned 10 more minas.’
17. “ ‘Well done, good slave! ’ he told him. ‘Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, have authority over 10 towns.’
18. “The second came and said, ‘Master, your mina has made five minas.’
19. “So he said to him, ‘You will be over five towns.’
20. “And another came and said, ‘Master, here is your mina. I have kept it hidden away in a cloth
21. because I was afraid of you, for you’re a tough man: you collect what you didn’t deposit and reap what you didn’t sow.’
22. “He told him, ‘I will judge you by what you have said, you evil slave! If you knew I was a tough man, collecting what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow,
23. why didn’t you put my money in the bank? And when I returned, I would have collected it with interest! ’