Chapter

Matthew 25:28

ESV So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.
NIV " ‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags.
NASB Therefore: take the talent away from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’
CSB "‘So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents.
NLT Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver.
KJV Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
NKJV Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

What does Matthew 25:28 mean?

The master in Jesus' story is delighted with his first two servants (Matthew 25:20–23) and disgusted with the third (Matthew 25:24–27). The first pair doubled the money he left with them before leaving town on a long journey. The third servant, though, buried the single talent he'd been given. Then he returned it to the master with a lame excuse about being afraid. The master has called out this excuse and revealed the truth: the third servant is sinful and lazy.

We don't often think of "laziness" as a sin on the same level as adultery, murder, or theft. Jesus' parable, though, shows that it can be characterized as wicked. The term translated "slothful" implies a moral failure, not merely something caused by fatigue or weakness. A lack of effort driven by immorality brings disastrous consequences. He has also shown that fear is not an excuse for inaction when action has been demanded by the Lord. Further, a stubborn refusal to obey the master implies someone who's not a true servant, at all, but rather a pretender waiting to be found out (Matthew 25:30).

Jesus describes the master as applying what some have called the "kingdom rule" to the situation, a concept expanded on in the following verse (Matthew 25:29). He orders the one talent taken from the slothful servant and given to the one who has the ten talents. This is also logical: the one with the ten talents (Matthew 25:16) is likely to make the most of what was squandered by the wicked servant.
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