Luke 19:1-22 ▼

1 And He entered Jericho and was passing through.

2 And behold, there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich.

3 And Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature.

4 So he ran on before and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way.

5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”

6 And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly.

7 And when they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

8 But Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have extorted anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.”

9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.

10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

11 Now while they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.

12 So He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return.

13 And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come back.’

14 But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’

15 And it happened that when he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know how much they had made in business.

16 So the first appeared, saying, ‘Master, your mina has made ten minas more.’

17 And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.’

18 Then the second came, saying, ‘Your mina, master, has made five minas.’

19 And he said to him also, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’

20 Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a cloth;

21 for I was afraid of you, because you are a strict man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.’

22 He said to him, ‘From your own mouth I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am a strict man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?