of weight of approximately , and when used as a unit of money, was valued for that weight of silver. As a unit of currency, a talent was worth about 6,000 denarii. A denarius was the usual payment for a day's labour. At one denarius per day, a single talent was therefore worth 20 years of labor (assuming a 6-day work week, because nobody would work on the weekly Sabbath). Narratives Parable of the Talents The "Parable of the Talents", in tells of a master who was leaving his house to travel, and, before leaving, entrusted his property to his servants. According to the abilities of each man, one servant received five talents, the second had received two, and the third received only one. The property entrusted to the three servants was worth eight talents, where a talent was a significant amount of money. Upon returning home, after a long absence, the master asks his three servants for an account of the talents he entrusted to them. The first and the second servants explain that they each put their talents to work, and have doubled the value of the property with which they were entrusted; each servant was rewarded: The third servant, however, had merely hidden his talent, burying it in the ground, and was punished by his master: Parable of the Minas In Luke's Gospel (), Jesus told this parable because he was near Jerusalem and because his disciples thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. The parable follows on from Zacchaeus' meeting with Jesus and the disciples "hearing" his declaration of restitution to those whom Zacchaeus had defrauded. The objective of investing or trading during the absence of the master was intended to counter expectations of the immediate appearance of God's kingdom. The parable of the minas is generally similar to the parable of the talents, but differences include the inclusion of the motif of a king obtaining a kingdom and the entrusting of ten servants with one mina each, rather than a number of talents ( 60 minas). Only the business outcomes and consequential rewards of three of the servants' trading were related. Additionally, Luke included at the beginning an account of citizens sending a message after the nobleman to say that they did not want him as their ruler; and, at the end, Luke added that the nobleman instructed that his opponents should be brought