19:23a–b

Why then did you not deposit my money in the bank: This is a rhetorical question. It expresses a rebuke. The king was telling his servant what he should have done but did not do. Some ways to translate this rebuke are:

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

…why didn’t you put my money in the bank? (God’s Word)

• As a statement or exclamation. For example:

You certainly should have put my money in the bank!
-or-
You should have deposited my money in the bank.

Translate this rebuke in a way that is natural in your language.

then: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as then introduces a logical conclusion. If the servant really believed what he said about the master, then he should have put his master’s money on deposit. Some other ways to express this logical connection in English are:

So
-or-
If you really believed that
-or-
Well, then (Good News Translation)

Express the connection in a natural way in your language.

deposit my money in the bank: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as in the bank is literally “on the table.” It refers to a table where a man who loaned money worked. A person could come and put money on the lender’s table. The lender would promise to pay him interest. This interest was based on the amount of money that the lender received and how long he kept the money. After a lender received money, he loaned it to another person and demanded a higher interest fee.

Some other ways to translate this action are:

• Use a specific term that describes the action. For example:

deposit my money with the moneylenders

• Use a descriptive phrase. For example:

invest my money with someone whose work/business is lending money
-or-
loan my money to a person/business who will pay a fee to borrow it

• Use a general term. For example:

put my money in the bank (Good News Translation)

If you use a general term, it should imply that the king would get interest from the money.

19:23b

and upon my return: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as and upon my return is literally “and I having come.” It refers to when the king returned to his servants.

The Berean Standard Bible begins 19:23b with and because in 19:23c the king describes the result of putting his money on deposit. The New International Version and NET Bible say “so that” because this was also the purpose of putting his money on deposit. In some languages it may be more natural to change the order of phrases in this verse. See the General Comment on 19:23a–c for a suggestion.

Other ways to translate this part of the verse are:

and at my coming (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
Then when I came back (New Century Version)

19:23c

I could have collected it with interest: The clause in this verse expresses a result of depositing the king’s money. But this result did not happen. The servant did not deposit the king’s money, so the king could not collect interest from the money. In some languages there are special ways to express the results of actions that did not happen. In English special verb forms are used such as “might” or could, as in the Berean Standard Bible.

English versions differ about where they end the rhetorical question that began in 19:23a. Many English versions express the result in this verse as a separate statement. For example:

Then when I came back, my money would have earned some interest. (New Century Version)

In some languages it may be helpful to begin this statement with an introductory clause. For example:

If you had done that, I could have collected the money with interest when I returned.

collected it with interest: The word interest refers to the extra money (“profits”) that a lender would have given the king for letting him use the money. It would have been good for the servant to put the money with a lender, who would have returned it with interest.

Other ways to translate collected it with interest are:

received it back with a profit/gain/increase
-or-
gotten it back again and also received some interest
-or-
received even more money back

General Comment on 19:23a–c

In some languages it may be more natural to change the order of clauses in this verse. For example:

23aThen why did you not put my money on deposit, 23cand I could have claimed it with interest 23bwhen I came back? (Revised English Bible)

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