Parable of the Talents

The following artwork is part of a series of 56 paintings on biblical themes by Kazakh artist Nelly Bube (born 1949):

Copyright by Norwegian Bible Society , used with permission.

For other images of Nelly Bube in TIPs, see here.

Following is a 1973 painting of the JESUS MAFA project, a response to New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings was selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings:

From Art in the Christian Tradition , a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. Image retrieved March 23, 2026. Original source: librairie-emmanuel.fr.

complete verse (Matthew 25:18)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 25:18:

  • Uma: “But the ordered-one who got only a thousand, he went and dug a hole in the ground and covered up his noble’s money.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But the one who had been given one thousand pesos went and dug a hole and hid the money of his master in the ground.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But the servant to whom he gave a thousand, he went away and buried in the ground his master’s money.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But the one entrusted with only-one talent, he went to bury that money of his master to hide it.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But as for that one, the one left in charge of one thousand, what he did was, he buried that money of his master.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But the worker who was given one thousand monies dug a hole. In it he hid the boss’s money.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 25:18

Jewish teachers used to say that anyone who immediately buries money entrusted to him is no longer liable, because he has taken the safest course possible in protecting the money. On the other hand, if a man wraps the money in a cloth and it is lost, then he is responsible to replace the money (compare Luke 19.20).

But contrasts the action of the third servant with that of the first (“went at once and traded”) and the second (“So also”).

Dug in the ground is usually rendered “dug a hole in the ground.”

The text states explicitly that this was his master’s money, but this does not mean that the money of the other servants was not also their master’s. Translators often have “the money his master had given him to take care of.”

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 .