Matthew 20:1–16

Parable of the Laborers

Mark 10:31

20“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ²Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, ⁴and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. ⁵Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. ⁶And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing ¹idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ ⁷They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, ²and whatever is right you will receive.’

⁸“So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ ⁹And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. ¹⁰But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. ¹¹And when they had received it, they ³complained against the landowner, ¹²saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ ¹³But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. ^15aIs it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or ^bis your eye evil because I am good?’ ^16cSo the last will be first, and the first last. ^dFor ⁴many are called, but few chosen.”