Matthew 20:1-16

Living Bible

20 Here is another illustration of the Kingdom of Heaven. “The owner of an estate went out early one morning to hire workers for his harvest field. ² He agreed to pay them $20 a day$20 a day, literally, “a denarius,” the payment for a day’s labor; equivalent to $20 in modern times, or £7. and sent them out to work.

³ “A couple of hours later he was passing a hiring hall and saw some men standing around waiting for jobs, ⁴ so he sent them also into his fields, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. ⁵ At noon and again around three o’clock in the afternoon he did the same thing.

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

⁷ “‘Because no one hired us,’ they replied.

“‘Then go on out and join the others in my fields,’ he told them.

⁸ “That evening he told the paymaster to call the men in and pay them, beginning with the last men first. ⁹ When the men hired at five o’clock were paid, each received $20. ¹⁰ So when the men hired earlier came to get theirs, they assumed they would receive much more. But they, too, were paid $20.

^11-12 “They protested, ‘Those fellows worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as those of us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’

¹³ “‘Friend,’ he answered one of them, ‘I did you no wrong! Didn’t you agree to work all day for $20? ¹⁴ Take it and go. It is my desire to pay all the same; ¹⁵ is it against the law to give away my money if I want to? Should you be angry because I am kind?’ ¹⁶ And so it is that the last shall be first, and the first, last.”