Matthew 20:1–16

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. ²And after^* coming to an agreement with the workers for a denarius per day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. ⁴And to those people he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever is right.’ ⁵So they went. Going out^a again about the sixth and ninth hour he did the same thing. ⁶And about the eleventh hour he went out and^* found others standing there and said to them, ‘Why are you standing here the whole day unemployed?’ ⁷They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go also into the vineyard.’ ⁸And when^* evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and pay them their^b wages, beginning from the last up to the first.’ ⁹And when the ones hired about the eleventh hour came, they received a denarius apiece. ¹⁰And when^* the first came, they thought that they would receive more, and they also received a denarius apiece. ¹¹And when they^* received it,^* they began to complain^c against the master of the house, ¹²saying, ‘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!’ ¹³But he answered one of them and^* said, ‘Friend, I am not doing you wrong. Did you not come to an agreement with me for a denarius? ¹⁴Take what is yours and go! But I want to give to this last person the same as I gave^d to you also. ¹⁵Is it not^e permitted for me to do whatever I want with what is mine? Or is your eye evil because I am generous?’ ¹⁶Thus the last will be first and the first last.”