The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like^(A) a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.^{(B) 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. ⁴ 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.’

⁸ “When evening came,^(C) the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

⁹ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. ¹⁰ So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ When they received it, they began to grumble^(D) against the landowner. ¹² ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat^(E) of the day.’

¹³ “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend.^(F) Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵ Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’^(G)

¹⁶ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”^(H)

Love for Enemies

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor^[a](A) and hate your enemy.’^{(B) 44} But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,^{(C) 45} that you may be children^(D) of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.^(E)

Life Through the Spirit

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation^(A) for those who are in Christ Jesus,^{(B) 2} because through Christ Jesus^(C) the law of the Spirit who gives life^(D) has set you^[a] free^(E) from the law of sin^(F) and death. ³ For what the law was powerless^(G) to do because it was weakened by the flesh,^[b](H) God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh^(I) to be a sin offering.^[c](J) And so he condemned sin in the flesh,

⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss^(A) for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing^(B) Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ^(C)