complete verse (Matthew 25:19)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 25:19:

  • Uma: “‘A long time after that, the noble returned, and he called his ordered-ones to find-out-how they had taken care of his money.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “‘After a really long time the master of those servants arrived. So-then he asked them as to what they had done with his money.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And after a long time, their master returned because he will see about his money.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘When it was a long-time, the master of those servants came-home, and had-them -called to inquire how much they had made-in-profit.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “It was a long time till the return of the master of those slaves. On his arrival, he reclaimed what he’d left.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “After many days, the boss of the workers came back. He made an accounting of the money he had delivered over to them.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

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.

Translation commentary on Matthew 25:19

After a long time parallels “is delayed” (24.48) and “was delayed” (25.5) of the first and second parables in this series of three.

Settled accounts with them does not refer to a past event but rather to something yet to take place, and so one may need to translate “in order to settle accounts with them.” New English Bible is sensitive to the problem: “and proceeded to settle accounts with them.” The same expression was used in 18.23. In this verse translators may say “asked them to account for what they had done with the money” or “checked with them about the money.”

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 .