Discovery BoxLuke 19:20-25 
Context19:20 Then another 1 slave 2 came and said, ‘Sir, here is 3 your mina that I put away for safekeeping 4 in a piece of cloth. 5 19:21 For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe 6 man. You withdraw 7 what you did not deposit 8 and reap what you did not sow.’ 19:22 The king 9 said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, 10 you wicked slave! 11 So you knew, did you, that I was a severe 12 man, withdrawing what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow? 19:23 Why then didn’t you put 13 my money in the bank, 14 so that when I returned I could have collected it with interest?’ 19:24 And he said to his attendants, 15 ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has ten.’ 16 19:25 But 17 they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten minas already!’ 18
1 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.
2 tn The word “slave” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied for stylistic reasons.
3 tn Grk “behold.”
4 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.’”
5 tn The piece of cloth, called a σουδάριον (soudarion), could have been a towel, napkin, handkerchief, or face cloth (L&N 6.159).
6 tn Or “exacting,” “harsh,” “hard.”
7 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.
8 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.
9 tn Grk “He”; the referent (the nobleman of v. 12, now a king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 tn Grk “out of your own mouth” (an idiom).
11 tn Note the contrast between this slave, described as “wicked,” and the slave in v. 17, described as “good.”
12 tn Or “exacting,” “harsh,” “hard.”
13 tn That is, “If you really feared me why did you not do a minimum to get what I asked for?”
14 tn Grk “on the table”; the idiom refers to a place where money is kept or managed, or credit is established, thus “bank” (L&N 57.215).
15 tn Grk “to those standing by,” but in this context involving an audience before the king to give an accounting, these would not be casual bystanders but courtiers or attendants.
16 tn Grk “the ten minas.”
17 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context. Those watching the evaluation are shocked, as the one with the most gets even more. The word “already” is supplied at the end of the statement to indicate this surprise and shock.
18 tc A few
