Text -- Matthew 20:1-22 (NET)

Workers in the Vineyard

20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 20:2 And after agreeing with the workers for the standard wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 20:3 When it was about nine o’clock in the morning, he went out again and saw others standing around in the marketplace without work. 20:4 He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and I will give you whatever is right.’ 20:5 So they went. When he went out again about noon and three o’clock that afternoon, he did the same thing. 20:6 And about five o’clock that afternoon he went out and found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why are you standing here all day without work?’ 20:7 They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go and work in the vineyard too.’ 20:8 When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and give the pay starting with the last hired until the first.’ 20:9 When those hired about five o’clock came, each received a full day’s pay. 20:10 And when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But each one also received the standard wage. 20:11 When they received it, they began to complain against the landowner, 20:12 saying, ‘These last fellows worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us who bore the hardship and burning heat of the day.’ 20:13 And the landowner replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am not treating you unfairly. Didn’t you agree with me to work for the standard wage? 20:14 Take what is yours and go. I want to give to this last man the same as I gave to you. 20:15 Am I not permitted to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 20:16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”

Third Prediction of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection

20:17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve aside privately and said to them on the way, 20:18 “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the experts in the law. They will condemn him to death, 20:19 and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged severely and crucified. Yet on the third day, he will be raised.”

A Request for James and John

20:20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling down she asked him for a favor. 20:21 He said to her, “What do you want?” She replied, “Permit these two sons of mine to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” 20:22 Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink the cup I am about to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Mat 20:1

¹ sn The term landowner here refers to the owner and manager of a household.

NET Notes: Mat 20:2

¹ tn Grk “agreeing with the workers for a denarius a day.”

sn The standard wage was a denarius a day. The denarius was a silver coin worth about a day’s wage for a laborer in Palestine in the 1st century.

NET Notes: Mat 20:3

¹ tn Grk “about the third hour.”

NET Notes: Mat 20:5

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn Grk “he went out again about the sixth and ninth hour.”

NET Notes: Mat 20:6

¹ tn Grk “about the eleventh hour.”

NET Notes: Mat 20:8

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² sn That is, six o’clock in the evening, the hour to pay day laborers. See Lev 19:13b.

³ tc ‡ Most witnesses (including B D W Θ Ë^1,13 33^vid Ï latt sy) have αὐτοῖς (autois, “to them”) after ἀπόδος (apodos, “give the pay”), but this seems to be a motivated reading, clarifying the indirect object. The omission is supported by א C L Z 085 Or. Nevertheless, NA²⁷ includes the pronoun on the basis of the greater external attestation.

NET Notes: Mat 20:9

¹ tn Grk “each received a denarius.” See the note on the phrase “standard wage” in v. 2.

NET Notes: Mat 20:11

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn The imperfect verb ἐγόγγυζον (egonguzon) has been translated ingressively.

NET Notes: Mat 20:13

¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the landowner) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Grk “And answering, he said to one of them.” This construction is somewhat redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified in the translation.

³ tn Grk “for a denarius a day.”

NET Notes: Mat 20:14

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn Grk “this last one,” translated as “this last man” because field laborers in 1st century Palestine were men.

NET Notes: Mat 20:15

¹ tc ‡ Before οὐκ (ouk, “[am I] not”) a number of significant witnesses read ἤ (h, “or”; e.g., א C W 085 Ë^1,13 33 and most others). Although in later Greek the οι in σοι (oi in soi) – the last word of v. 14 – would have been pronounced like ἤ, since ἤ is lacking in early mss (B D; among later witnesses, note L Z Θ 700) and since mss were probably copied predominantly by sight rather than by sound, even into the later centuries, the omission of ἤ cannot be accounted for as easily. Thus the shorter reading is most likely original. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

² tn Grk “Is your eye evil because I am good?”

NET Notes: Mat 20:17

¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

² tc ‡ A number of significant witnesses (e.g., B C W 085 33 lat) have μαθητάς (maqhtas, “disciples”) after δώδεκα (dwdeka, “twelve”), perhaps by way of clarification, while other important witnesses lack the word (e.g., א D L Θ Ë^1,13). The longer reading looks to be a scribal clarification, and hence is considered to be secondary. NA²⁷ puts the word in brackets to show doubts about its authenticity.

NET Notes: Mat 20:18

¹ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

NET Notes: Mat 20:19

¹ tn Traditionally, “scourged” (the term means to beat severely with a whip, L&N 19.9). BDAG 620 s.v. μαστιγόω 1.a states, “The ‘verberatio’ is denoted in the passion predictions and explicitly as action by non-Israelites Mt 20:19; Mk 10:34; Lk 18:33”; the verberatio was the beating given to those condemned to death in the Roman judicial system. Here the term μαστιγόω (mastigow) has been translated “flog…severely” to distinguish it from the term φραγελλόω (fragellow) used in Matt 27:26; Mark 15:15.

² sn Crucifixion was the cruelest form of punishment practiced by the Romans. Roman citizens could not normally undergo it. It was reserved for the worst crimes, like treason and evasion of due process in a capital case. The Roman historian Cicero called it “a cruel and disgusting penalty” (Against Verres 2.5.63-66 §§163-70); Josephus (J. W. 7.6.4 [7.203]) called it the worst of deaths.

³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “yet” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

NET Notes: Mat 20:20

¹ tn Grk “asked something from him.”

NET Notes: Mat 20:21

¹ tn Grk “said to him.”

² tn Grk “Say that.”

³ tc A majority of witnesses read σου (sou, “your”) here, perhaps for clarification. At the same time, it is possible that the pronoun dropped out through haplography or was excised because of perceived redundancy (there are two other such pronouns in the verse) by א B. Either way, the translation adds it due to the requirements of English style. NA²⁷ includes σου here.

NET Notes: Mat 20:22

¹ tn Grk “And answering, Jesus said.” This is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn The verbs in Greek are plural here, indicating that Jesus is not answering the mother but has turned his attention directly to the two disciples.

³ tc Most mss (C W 33 Ï, as well as some versional and patristic authorities) in addition have “or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” But this is surely due to a recollection of the fuller version of this dominical saying found in Mark 10:38. The same mss also have the Lord’s response, “and you will be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized” in v. 23, again due to the parallel in Mark 10:39. The shorter reading, in both v. 22 and v. 23, is to be preferred both because it better explains the rise of the other reading and is found in superior witnesses (א B D L Z Θ 085 Ë^1,13 pc lat, as well as other versional and patristic authorities).

⁴ sn No more naïve words have ever been spoken as those found here coming from James and John, “We are able.” They said it with such confidence and ease, yet they had little clue as to what they were affirming. In the next sentence Jesus confirms that they will indeed suffer for his name.