Matthew 20:1-15

New Testament for Everyone

The workers in the vineyard

20 “So you see,” Jesus continued, “the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ² He agreed with the workers to give them a dinar a day, and sent them off to his vineyard.

³ “He went out again in the middle of the morning, and saw some others standing in the market-place with nothing to do.

⁴ “ ‘You too can go to the vineyard,’ he said, ‘and I’ll give you what’s right.’ ⁵ So off they went.

“He went out again about midday, and then in the middle of the afternoon, and did the same. ⁶ Then, with only an hour of the day left, he went out and found other people standing there.

“ ‘Why are you standing here all day with nothing to do?’ he asked them.

⁷ “ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they replied. “ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘you too can go into the vineyard.’

⁸ “When evening came, the vineyard-owner said to his servant, ‘Call the workers and give them their pay. Start with the last, and go on to the first.’

⁹ “So the ones who had worked for one hour came, and each of them received a dinar. ¹⁰ When the first ones came, they thought they would get something more; but they, too, each received a dinar.

¹¹ “When they had been given it, they grumbled against the landowner. ¹² ‘This lot who came in last,’ they said, ‘have only worked for one hour—and they’ve been put on a level with us! And we did all the hard work, all day, and in the heat as well!’

¹³ “ ‘My friend,’ he said to one of them, ‘I’m not doing you any wrong. You agreed with me on one dinar, didn’t you? ¹⁴ Take it! It’s yours! And be on your way. I want to give this fellow who came at the end the same as you. ¹⁵ Or are you suggesting that I’m not allowed to do what I like with my own money? Or are you giving me the evil eye because I’m good?’