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Matthew 25

1“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3For the foolish took their lamps but did not take oil with them. 4The wise took oil in containers along with their lamps. 5While the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6At midnight a cry rang out: ‘Look, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7Then all those virgins got up and prepared their lamps. 8The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’ 9But the wise answered, ‘There may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves.’ 10While they were going away to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding celebration, and the door was shut. 11Later the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us!’ 12But he answered, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ 13So keep watch, because you know neither the day nor the hour.

14“For it is like a person going abroad who called his own slaves and handed his possessions over to them. 15To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability, and went abroad. Immediately 16the one who received the five talents went and traded with them and gained five more. 17In the same way, the one with the two gained two more. 18But the one who received the one went away, dug in the ground, and hid his master's silver. 19After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20The one who received the five talents came and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed five talents over to me. Look, I have gained five more talents.’ 21His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you over many things. Enter into your master's joy.’ 22The one with the two talents also came and said, ‘Master, you handed two talents over to me. Look, I have gained two more talents.’ 23His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you over many things. Enter into your master's joy.’ 24The one who had received the one talent also came and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard person, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter. 25I was afraid, so I went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, you have what is yours.’ 26His master answered him, ‘Evil and lazy slave! You knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I did not scatter? 27Then you should have deposited my silver with the bankers, and when I came I would have recovered what is mine with interest. 28So take the talent from him and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30And throw the useless slave into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and grinding of teeth there.’

31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his throne of glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will place the sheep at his right and the goats at his left. 34Then the king will say to those at his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was a stranger and you took me in, 36naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to me.’ 37Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ 40The king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, insofar as you did it for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.’

41“Then he will also say to those at his left, ‘Go away from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you did not give me food, I was thirsty and you did not give me a drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not take me in, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not serve you?’ 45Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, insofar as you did not do it for one of the least of these, neither did you do it for me.’ 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Translation notes 6

25:1–13 — Virgins and lamps. “Virgins” retains the Greek description of the young women, rather than only their wedding role. The lights may be lamps or torches; oil is required for either. All ten sleep, so the contrast is preparation rather than literal sleeplessness. The oil is not explicitly identified as faith, deeds, or the Spirit. Some manuscripts expand verse 13 with “in which the Son of Man comes”; the base text does not.

25:14–18 — Talents and immediately. A talent is a large unit of money here, not the English word for an ability. “Ability” is separately stated in verse 15. SBLGNT's punctuation connects “Immediately” at the end of verse 15 with the next slave's action. “Silver” is the money entrusted to him, not an assessment of its precise composition.

25:21–30 — Faithfulness and judgment. Both successful slaves receive the identical reply. The master's question in verse 26 can also be punctuated as a statement. The text reports the slave's charge without requiring every feature of his description to be an independent assertion about God. The severe exclusion and darkness remain.

25:32–40 — Nations and brothers. “Nations” can also be “Gentiles”; the scope of the gathering is debated. The brothers are plausibly Jesus' disciples or messengers, given Matthew's other family sayings; a wider reference to needy people is also defended. The reading retains “brothers” rather than settling that question by replacing it with either “missionaries” or “all humanity.” It does not exclude women from the familial expression.

25:35–45 — Care and repeated wording. Food, drink, welcome, clothing, visiting, and coming to prisoners remain concrete actions. “Naked” can include being inadequately clothed. The repeated descriptions are not collapsed into a general instruction to be kind. Verse 45 has “the least of these” without repeating “brothers of mine.”

25:41, 46 — Eternal punishment and life. The same Greek adjective describes the fire, the punishment, and the life; “eternal” is retained in all three. This preserves the parallel without inserting a detailed account of the punishment's mechanism. The text says punishment, not a specifically corrective rehabilitation, and does not name the fire Gehenna here.