7. Everyone who saw this started grumbling, “This man Zacchaeus is a sinner! And Jesus is going home to eat with him.”
8. Later that day Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “I will give half of my property to the poor. And I will now pay back four times as much to everyone I have ever cheated.”
9. Jesus said to Zacchaeus, “Today you and your family have been saved, because you are a true son of Abraham.
10. The Son of Man came to look for and to save people who are lost.”
11. The crowd was still listening to Jesus as he was getting close to Jerusalem. Many of them thought that God's kingdom would soon appear,
12. and Jesus told them this story:A prince once went to a foreign country to be crowned king and then to return.
13. But before leaving, he called in ten servants and gave each of them some money. He told them, “Use this to earn more money until I get back.”
14. But the people of his country hated him, and they sent messengers to the foreign country to say, “We don't want this man to be our king.”
15. After the prince had been made king, he returned and called in his servants. He asked them how much they had earned with the money they had been given.
16. The first servant came and said, “Sir, with the money you gave me I have earned ten times as much.”
17. “That's fine, my good servant!” the king said. “Since you have shown that you can be trusted with a small amount, you will be given ten cities to rule.”
18. The second one came and said, “Sir, with the money you gave me, I have earned five times as much.”
19. The king said, “You will be given five cities.”
20. Another servant came and said, “Sir, here is your money. I kept it safe in a handkerchief.
21. You are a hard man, and I was afraid of you. You take what isn't yours, and you harvest crops you didn't plant.”