16. “The first servant came and said, ‘Sir, I earned ten bags of money with the one bag you gave me!’
17. The king said to the servant, ‘Fine! You are a good servant. I see that I can trust you with small things. So now I will let you rule over ten of my cities.’
18. “The second servant said, ‘Sir, with your one bag of money I earned five bags!’
19. The king said to this servant, ‘You can rule over five cities.’
20. “Then another servant came in. The servant said to the king, ‘Sir, here is your bag of money. I wrapped it in a piece of cloth and hid it.
21. I was afraid of you because you are a hard man. You even take money that you didn’t earn and gather food that you didn’t plant.’
22. Then the king said to the servant, ‘You evil servant! I will use your own words to condemn you. You said that I am a hard man. You said that I even take money that I didn’t earn and gather food that I didn’t plant.
23. If that is true, then you should have put my money in the bank. Then, when I came back, my money would have earned some interest.’
24. “Then the king said to the men who were watching, ‘Take the bag of money away from this servant and give it to the servant who earned ten bags of money.’