Matthew 20:1-16

Lexham English Bible

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man—the master of the house—who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ² And after^[a] coming to an agreement with the workers for a denarius per 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 those people he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever is right.’ ⁵ So they went. Going out^[b] again about the sixth and ninth hour he did the same thing. ⁶ And about the eleventh hour he went out and^[c] found others standing there and said to them, ‘Why are you standing here the whole day unemployed?’ ⁷ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go also into the vineyard.’ ⁸ And when^[d] evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and pay them their^[e] wages, beginning from the last up to the first.’ ⁹ And when the ones hired about the eleventh hour came, they received a denarius apiece. ¹⁰ And when^[f] the first came, they thought that they would receive more, and they also received a denarius apiece. ¹¹ And when they^[g] received it,^[h] they began to complain^[i] against the master of the house, ¹² saying, ‘These last people worked one hour and you made them equal to us who have endured the burden of the day and the burning heat!’ ¹³ But he answered one of them and^[j] said, ‘Friend, I am not doing you wrong. Did you not come to an agreement with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what is yours and go! But I want to give to this last person the same as I gave^[k] to you also. ¹⁵ Is it not^[l] permitted for me to do whatever I want with what is mine? Or is your eye evil because I am generous?’ ¹⁶ Thus the last will be first and the first last.”