Chapter

Matthew 25:20

ESV And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’
NIV The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.'
NASB The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have earned five more talents.’
CSB The man who had received five talents approached, presented five more talents, and said, 'Master, you gave me five talents. See, I've earned five more talents.'
NLT The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’
KJV And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.

What does Matthew 25:20 mean?

Jesus is painting a vivid picture of His own return to the earth in this interaction between a master and his servants. The master in this parable left huge sums with his servants (Matthew 25:14–19). His intent was for them to put those assets to work, to make him more money. As with the "talents" given to us by God today, their intended use is for God's glory. Those blessings are not meant to be ignored, hidden, or abused (Matthew 25:27). The scale Jesus uses also speaks to the importance of these blessings. Even the servant who was "only" given one talent was entrusted with the equivalent of twenty years of wages!

The first servant makes his report to the master. He tells the master he has made five talents above the five talents given to him by the master. That is a 100 percent return on investment; any master would have been pleased with this enormous success. As a result, the master will express how pleased he truly is and reward the servant richly (Matthew 25:21).
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