Matthew 20:1-16

Disciples’ Literal New Testament

20 ¹ For the kingdom of the heavens is like a man who is a house-master, who went out together-with early-morning to hire workers into his vineyard. ² And having made-an-agreement with the workers for a denarius^[a] for the day, he sent them out into his vineyard. ³ And having gone out around the third^[b] hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. ⁴ And to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever may be right’. ⁵ And the ones went. And again having gone out around the sixth and the ninth hour, he did similarly. ⁶ And having gone out around the eleventh^[c] hour, he found others standing there. And he says to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle the whole day? ⁷ They say to him, ‘Because no one hired us’. He says to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard’. ⁸ And having become evening, the master of the vineyard says to his manager^[d], ‘Call the workers, and pay them the wages— beginning from the last ones, up to the first ones’. ⁹ And having come, the ones hired around the eleventh hour received a denarius apiece. ¹⁰ And having come, the first ones thought that they would receive more. And they also themselves received the denarius apiece. ¹¹ And having received it, they were grumbling against the house-master, ¹² saying, ‘These last ones did one hour, and you made them equal to us— the ones having borne the burden of the day and the burning-heat’. ¹³ But the one, having responded, said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am not wronging you. Did you not make-an-agreement with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what is yours and go. But I want to give to this last one as I also gave to you. ¹⁵ Or is it not lawful for me to do what I want with my things? Or is your eye^[e] evil because I am good?’ ¹⁶ Thus the last ones will be first, and the first ones, last”.