18. But the servant who got one bag went out and dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.
19. “After a long time the master came home and asked the servants what they did with his money.
20. The servant who was given five bags of gold brought five more bags to the master and said, ‘Master, you trusted me to care for five bags of gold, so I used your five bags to earn five more.’
21. The master answered, ‘You did well. You are a good and loyal servant. Because you were loyal with small things, I will let you care for much greater things. Come and share my joy with me.’
22. “Then the servant who had been given two bags of gold came to the master and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of gold to care for, so I used your two bags to earn two more.’
23. The master answered, ‘You did well. You are a good and loyal servant. Because you were loyal with small things, I will let you care for much greater things. Come and share my joy with me.’
24. “Then the servant who had been given one bag of gold came to the master and said, ‘Master, I knew that you were a hard man. You harvest things you did not plant. You gather crops where you did not sow any seed.
25. So I was afraid and went and hid your money in the ground. Here is your bag of gold.’
26. The master answered, ‘You are a wicked and lazy servant! You say you knew that I harvest things I did not plant and that I gather crops where I did not sow any seed.
27. So you should have put my gold in the bank. Then, when I came home, I would have received my gold back with interest.’
28. “So the master told his other servants, ‘Take the bag of gold from that servant and give it to the servant who has ten bags of gold.
29. Those who have much will get more, and they will have much more than they need. But those who do not have much will have everything taken away from them.’
30. Then the master said, ‘Throw that useless servant outside, into the darkness where people will cry and grind their teeth with pain.’
31. “The Son of Man will come again in his great glory, with all his angels. He will be King and sit on his great throne.
32. All the nations of the world will be gathered before him, and he will separate them into two groups as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.