Matthew 20:1-10

1 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard.

2 He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.

3 “At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing.

4 So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day.

5 So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o’clock he did the same thing.

6 “At five o’clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’

7 “They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’ “The landowner told them, ‘Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.’

8 “That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first.

9 When those hired at five o’clock were paid, each received a full day’s wage.

10 When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage.

Footnotes

• [a] Greek a denarius, the payment for a full day’s labor; similarly in 20:9, 10, 13 .