Matthew 20:1–16

Laborers in the Vineyard

¹“For ^athe kingdom of heaven is like ¹a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his ^bvineyard.

²“Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a ¹denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.

³“And he went out about the ¹third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace;

⁴and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went.

⁵“Again he went out about the ¹sixth and the ninth hour, and did ²the same thing.

⁶“And about the ¹eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he ^*said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’

⁷“They ^*said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He ^*said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

⁸“Now when ^aevening came, the ¹owner of the vineyard ^*said to his ^bbforeman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’

⁹“And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a ¹denarius.

¹⁰“And when those hired first came, they supposed that they would receive more; ¹but each of them also received a denarius.

¹¹“Now when they received it, they were grumbling at the landowner,

¹²saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the ^ascorching heat.’

¹³“But he answered and said to one of them, ‘^aFriend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius?

¹⁴‘Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.

¹⁵‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your ^aeye ¹envious because I am ²generous?’

¹⁶“So ^athe last shall be first, and the first last.”