1“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.
2
He agreed to pay them a denarius[a]for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3
“About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.
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He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’
5
So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing.
6
About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7
“ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’