Thematic Bible: Unfaithful servants


Thematic Bible



So He said to them, "A man of noble family travelled to a distant country to obtain the rank of king, and to return. And he called ten of his servants and gave each of them a pound, instructing them to trade with the money during his absence. "Now his countrymen hated him, and sent a deputation after him to say, 'We are not willing that he should become our king.' read more.
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. "So the first came and said, "'Sir, your pound has produced ten pounds more.' "'Well done, good servant,' he replied; 'because you have been faithful in a very small matter, be in authority over ten towns.' "The second came, and said, "'Your pound, Sir, has produced five pounds.' "So he said to this one also, "'And you, be the governor of five towns.' "The next came. "'Sir,' he said, 'here is your pound, which I have kept wrapt up in a cloth. 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.' "'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: why then did you not put my money into a bank, that when I came I might have received it back with interest? "And he said to those who stood by, "'Take the pound from him and give it to him who has the ten pounds.' ("They said to him, "`Sir, he already has ten pounds.') "'I tell you that to every one who has anything, more shall be given; and from him who has not anything, even what he has shall be taken away. But as for those enemies of mine who were unwilling that I should become their king, bring them here, and cut them to pieces in my presence.'"

Be on the alert therefore, for you do not know the day on which your Lord is coming. But of this be assured, that if the master of the house had known the hour at which the robber was coming, he would have kept awake, and not have allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready; for it is at a time when you do not expect Him that the Son of Man will come. read more.
"Who therefore is the loyal and intelligent servant to whom his master has entrusted the control of his household to give them their rations at the appointed time? Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes shall find so doing! In solemn truth I tell you that he will give him the management of all his wealth. But if the man, being a bad servant, should say in his heart, 'My master is a long time in coming,' and should begin to beat his fellow servants, while he eats and drinks with drunkards; the master of that servant will arrive on a day when he is not expecting him and at an hour of which he has not been informed; he will treat him with the utmost severity and assign him a place among the hypocrites: there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.