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.’
Parallel translations
- 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.
- BSB 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.’
- 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 25:24–25“He also who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter.
- Rom 8:7because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.
- Rom 8:15For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
- 2 Sam 6:9–11David was afraid of Yahweh that day; and he said, “How could Yahweh’s ark come to me?”
- 2 Tim 1:7For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.
- Ezek 18:25–29“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not equal.’ Hear now, house of Israel: Is my way not equal? Aren’t your ways unequal?
- Job 21:14–15They tell God, ‘Depart from us, for we don’t want to know about your ways.
- Jas 2:10For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
- 1 Jn 4:18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love.
- Jude 1:15to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
- 1 Sam 12:20Samuel said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. You have indeed done all this evil; yet don’t turn aside from following Yahweh, but serve Yahweh with all your heart.
- Exod 20:19–20They said to Moses, “Speak with us yourself, and we will listen; but don’t let God speak with us, lest we die.”
- 1 Sam 6:19–21He struck of the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into Yahweh’s ark, he struck fifty thousand seventy of the men. Then the people mourned, because Yahweh had struck the people with a great slaughter.
- Mal 3:14–15You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God;’ and ‘What profit is it that we have followed his instructions, and that we have walked mournfully before Yahweh of Armies?
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.