Matthew 20:1-16

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a man--the master of the house--who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.

2 And [after] coming to an agreement with the workers for a denarius per day, he sent them into his vineyard.

3 And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace.

4 And to those [people] he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever is right.'

5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth and ninth hour he did the same [thing].

6 And about the eleventh [hour] he went out [and] found others standing [there] and said to them, 'Why are you standing here the whole day unemployed?'

7 They said to him, 'Because no one hired us.' He said to them, 'You go also into the vineyard.'

8 And [when] evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last up to the first.'

9 And [when] the ones [hired] about the eleventh hour came, they received a denarius apiece.

10 And [when] the first came, they thought that they would receive more, and they also received a denarius apiece.

11 And [when they] received [it], they began to complain against the master of the house,

12 saying, 'These last [people] worked one hour and you made them equal to us who have endured the burden of the day and the burning heat!'

13 But he answered one of them [and] said, 'Friend, I am not doing you wrong. Did you not come to an agreement with me for a denarius?

14 Take [what is] yours and go! But I want to give to this last [person] [the same] as [I gave] to you also.

15 Is it not permitted for me to do whatever I want with [what is] mine? Or is your eye evil because I am generous?'

16 Thus the last will be first and the first last."

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here "[after]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("coming to an agreement") which is understood as temporal
• [b]. Some manuscripts have "And going out"
• [c]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("went out") has been translated as a finite verb
• [d]. *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle ("came")
• [e]. Literally "the"; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
• [f]. *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("came") which is understood as temporal
• [g]. *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("received") which is understood as temporal
• [h]. *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
• [i]. The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here ("began to complain")
• [j]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("answered") has been translated as a finite verb
• [k]. The words "[I gave]" are an implied repetition from the verb earlier in the verse
• [l]. Some manuscripts have "Or [is it] not"