Laborers in the Vineyard

20 “For ^(A)the kingdom of heaven is like ^[a]a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his ^(B)vineyard. ² When he had agreed with the laborers for a ^[b]denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ And he went out about the ^[c]third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace; ⁴ and to those he said, ‘You go into the vineyard also, and whatever is right, I will give you.’ And so they went. ⁵ Again he went out about the ^[d]sixth and the ninth hour, and did ^[e]the same thing. ⁶ And about the ^[f]eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he *said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ ⁷ They *said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He *said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

⁸ “Now when ^(C)evening came, the ^[g]owner of the vineyard *said to his ^(D)foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, starting with the last group to the first.’

Parable of Two Sons

²⁸ “But what do you think? A man had two ^[a]sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘^[b]Son, go work today in the ^(A)vineyard.’ ²⁹ But he replied, ‘I do not want to.’ Yet afterward he regretted it and went. ³⁰ And the man came to his second son and said the same thing; and he replied, ‘I will, sir’; and yet he did not go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that ^(B)the tax collectors and prostitutes ^[c]will get into the kingdom of God before you. ³² For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but ^(C)the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even ^[d]have second thoughts afterward so as to believe him.

Parable of the Landowner

³³ “Listen to another parable. ^(D)There was a ^[e]landowner who ^(E)planted a ^(F)vineyard and put a ^[f]fence around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and he leased it to ^[g]vine-growers and ^(G)went on a journey. ³⁴ And when the ^[h]harvest time approached, he ^(H)sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit. ³⁵ And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶ Again, he ^(I)sent other slaves, more than the first; and they did the same things to them. ³⁷ But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let’s kill him and take possession of his inheritance!’ ³⁹ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰ Therefore, when the ^[i]owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” ⁴¹ They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and ^(J)lease the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the fruit in the proper seasons.”