Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation are potentially ambiguous; the servant did not give just the five thousand he had made, but the entire amount of ten thousand. Rather radical restructuring may be necessary in order to avoid possible confusion to the reader; for example, “The servant who had received five thousand coins came in and said, ‘You entrusted me with five thousand coins, and with them I have earned five thousand more. Here they are!’ ” (Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition).

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .