¹⁰ When God saw what they did, ^(A)how they turned from their evil way, ^(B)God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Jonah's Anger and the Lord's Compassion

4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,^[a] and ^(C)he was angry. ² And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? ^(D)That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a ^(E)gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and ^(F)relenting from disaster. ^3 (G)Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, ^(H)for it is better for me to die than to live.” ⁴ And the Lord said, ^(I)“Do you do well to be angry?”

⁵ Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and ^(J)made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. ⁶ Now the Lord God appointed a plant^[b] and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort.^[c] So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. ⁷ But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. ⁸ When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching ^(K)east wind, ^(L)and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he ^(M)was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, ^(N)“It is better for me to die than to live.” ⁹ But God said to Jonah, ^(O)“Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” ¹⁰ And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. ¹¹ And should not I pity ^(P)Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much ^(Q)cattle?”

²¹ For to me ^(A)to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²² If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. ^23 (B)I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is ^(C)to depart and ^(D)be with Christ, for that is far better. ²⁴ But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. ^25 (E)Convinced of this, ^(F)I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your ^(G)progress and ^(H)joy in the faith, ²⁶ so that in me ^(I)you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

²⁷ Only ^(J)let your manner of life be ^(K)worthy^[a] of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you ^(L)that you are standing firm in one spirit, with ^(M)one mind ^(N)striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,

Laborers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius^[a] a 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 them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ ⁵ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. ⁶ And ^(A)about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ ⁷ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ ⁸ And ^(B)when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his ^(C)foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ ⁹ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. ¹⁰ Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, ¹² saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and ^(D)the scorching heat.’ ¹³ But he replied to one of them, ^(E)‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take ^(F)what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. ^15 (G)Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or ^(H)do you begrudge my generosity?’^{[b] 16} So ^(I)the last will be first, and the first last.”