Discovery BoxLuke 19:16-21 
Context19:16 So 1 the first one came before him and said, ‘Sir, 2 your mina 3 has made ten minas more.’ 19:17 And the king 4 said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been faithful 5 in a very small matter, you will have authority 6 over ten cities.’ 19:18 Then 7 the second one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made five minas.’ 19:19 So 8 the king 9 said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ 19:20 Then another 10 slave 11 came and said, ‘Sir, here is 12 your mina that I put away for safekeeping 13 in a piece of cloth. 14 19:21 For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe 15 man. You withdraw 16 what you did not deposit 17 and reap what you did not sow.’
1 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the royal summons.
2 tn Or “Lord”; or “Master.” (and so throughout this paragraph).
3 tn See the note on the word “minas” in v. 13.
4 tn Grk “he”; the referent (the nobleman of v. 12, now a king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn See Luke 16:10.
6 sn The faithful slave received expanded responsibility (authority over ten cities) as a result of his faithfulness; this in turn is an exhortation to faithfulness for the reader.
7 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
8 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the second slave’s report.
9 tn Grk “he”; the referent (the nobleman of v. 12, now a king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 sn Though ten were given minas, the story stops to focus on the one who did nothing with the opportunity given to him. Here is the parable’s warning about the one who does not trust the master. This figure is called “another,” marking him out as different than the first two.
11 tn The word “slave” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied for stylistic reasons.
12 tn Grk “behold.”
13 tn Or “that I stored away.” L&N 85.53 defines ἀπόκειμαι (apokeimai) here as “to put something away for safekeeping – ‘to store, to put away in a safe place.’”
14 tn The piece of cloth, called a σουδάριον (soudarion), could have been a towel, napkin, handkerchief, or face cloth (L&N 6.159).
15 tn Or “exacting,” “harsh,” “hard.”
16 tn Grk “man, taking out.” The Greek word can refer to withdrawing money from a bank (L&N 57.218), and in this context of financial accountability that is the most probable meaning. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronoun “you” as subject and translating the participle αἴρεις (airei") as a finite verb.
17 tn The Greek verb τίθημι (tiqhmi) can be used of depositing money with a banker to earn interest (L&N 57.217). In effect the slave charges that the master takes what he has not earned.
