New Testament in a Year

Chapter 20

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard.^{[a] 1} “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius^[b] a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ Going out about nine o’clock,^[c] he saw some others standing idle in the marketplace. ⁴ He said to them, ‘You also go into my vineyard and I will give you what is just.’ ⁵ When he went out again around noon and at three in the afternoon,^[d] he did the same. ⁶ Then, about five o’clock,^[e] he went out and found others standing around, and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ ⁷ They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’

⁸ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the workers and give them their pay, beginning with those who came last and ending with the first.’ ⁹ When those who had started to labor at five o’clock came, each of them received a denarius. ¹⁰ Therefore, those who had come first thought that they would receive more, but they were paid a denarius, the same as the others. ¹¹ And when they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner, ¹² saying, ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour, and yet you have rewarded them on the same level with us who have borne the greatest portion of the work and the heat of the day.’

¹³ “The owner replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am not treating you unfairly. Did you not agree with me to work for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take your pay and leave. I have chosen to pay the latecomers the same as I pay you. ¹⁵ Am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ ¹⁶ Thus, the last will be first and the first will be last.”