For I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man. You withdraw what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.’
Parallel translations
- WEB for I feared you, because you are an exacting man. You take up that which you didn’t lay down, and reap that which you didn’t sow.’
- KJV For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow.
- NKJV For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’
- NASB for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding man; you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow.’
- NLT I was afraid because you are a hard man to deal with, taking what isn’t yours and harvesting crops you didn’t plant.’
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The servant excuses himself by claiming he feared a harsh, demanding master. His distorted view of the master masks his own unfaithfulness.
Overview
The servant projects his own laziness onto a false picture of the master as severe and grasping. His "fear" is not reverence but resentment, and it becomes his excuse for doing nothing. The verse exposes how a wrong view of God can be used to justify disobedience.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Matt 25:24–25Finally, the servant who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.
- Rom 8:7because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
- Rom 8:15For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
- 2 Sam 6:9–11That day David feared the LORD and asked, “How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?”
- 2 Tim 1:7For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.
- Ezek 18:25–29Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?
- Job 21:14–15Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.
- Jas 2:10Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
- 1 Jn 4:18There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love.
- Jude 1:15to execute judgment on everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of every ungodly act of wickedness and every harsh word spoken against Him by ungodly sinners.”
- 1 Sam 12:20“Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “Even though you have committed all this evil, do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.
- Exod 20:19–20“Speak to us yourself and we will listen,” they said to Moses. “But do not let God speak to us, or we will die.”
- 1 Sam 6:19–21But God struck down some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the LORD. He struck down seventy men, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck them with a great slaughter.
- Mal 3:14–15You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the LORD of Hosts?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 19:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.