Job 14:6

14:6 Look away from him and let him desist, ¹ 

until he fulfills ²  his time like a hired man.

Leviticus 25:50

25:50 He must calculate with the one who bought him the number of years ³  from the year he sold himself to him until the jubilee year, and the cost of his sale must correspond to the number of years, according to the rate of wages a hired worker would have earned while with him. ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 15:18

15:18 You should not consider it difficult to let him go free, for he will have served you for six years, twice ⁵  the time of a hired worker; the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

Isaiah 21:16

21:16 For this is what the sovereign master ⁶  has told me: “Within exactly one year ⁷  all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end.

Matthew 20:1-15

Workers in the Vineyard

20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner ⁸  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, ⁹  he sent them into his vineyard. 20:3 When it was about nine o’clock in the morning, ¹⁰  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 ¹¹  he went out again about noon and three o’clock that afternoon, ¹²  he did the same thing. 20:6 And about five o’clock that afternoon ¹³  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 ¹⁴  it was evening ¹⁵  the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and give the pay ¹⁶  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. ¹⁷  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 ¹⁸  they received it, they began to complain ¹⁹  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 ²⁰  replied to one of them, ²¹  ‘Friend, I am not treating you unfairly. Didn’t you agree with me to work for the standard wage? ²²  20:14 Take what is yours and go. I ²³  want to give to this last man ²⁴  the same as I gave to you. 20:15 Am I not ²⁵  permitted to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ ²⁶ 

[14:6]  ¹ tn The verb חָדַל (khadal) means “to desist; to cease.” The verb would mean here “and let him desist,” which some take to mean “and let him rest.” But since this is rather difficult in the line, commentators have suggested other meanings. Several emend the text slightly to make it an imperative rather than an imperfect; this is then translated “and desist.” The expression “from him” must be added. Another suggestion that is far-fetched is that of P. J. Calderone (“CHDL-II in poetic texts,” CBQ 23 [1961]: 451-60) and D. W. Thomas (VTSup 4 [1957]: 8-16), having a new meaning of “be fat.”

[14:6]  ² tn There are two roots רָצַה (ratsah). The first is the common word, meaning “to delight in; to have pleasure in.” The second, most likely used here, means “to pay; to acquit a debt” (cf. Lev 26:34, 41, 43). Here with the mention of the simile with the hired man, the completing of the job is in view.

[25:50]  ³ tn Heb “the years.”

[25:50]  ⁴ tn Heb “as days of a hired worker he shall be with him.” For this and the following verses see the explanation in P. J. Budd, Leviticus (NCBC), 358-59.

[15:18]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term מִשְׁנֶה (mishneh, “twice”) could mean “equivalent to” (cf. NRSV) or, more likely, “double” (cf. NAB, NIV, NLT). The idea is that a hired worker would put in only so many hours per day whereas a bondslave was available around the clock.

[21:16]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[21:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “in still a year, like the years of a hired worker.” See the note at 16:14.

[20:1]  ⁸ sn The term landowner here refers to the owner and manager of a household.

[20:2]  ⁹ tn Grk “agreeing with the workers for a denarius a day.”

[20:3]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “about the third hour.”

[20:5]  ¹¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[20:5]  ¹² tn Grk “he went out again about the sixth and ninth hour.”

[20:6]  ¹³ tn Grk “about the eleventh hour.”

[20:8]  ¹⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[20:8]  ¹⁵ sn That is, six o’clock in the evening, the hour to pay day laborers. See Lev 19:13b.

[20:8]  ¹⁶ 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.

[20:9]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “each received a denarius.” See the note on the phrase “standard wage” in v. 2.

[20:11]  ¹⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[20:11]  ¹⁹ tn The imperfect verb ἐγόγγυζον (egonguzon) has been translated ingressively.

[20:13]  ²⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the landowner) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:13]  ²¹ 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.

[20:13]  ²² tn Grk “for a denarius a day.”

[20:14]  ²³ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[20:14]  ²⁴ tn Grk “this last one,” translated as “this last man” because field laborers in 1st century Palestine were men.

[20:15]  ²⁵ 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.

[20:15]  ²⁶ tn Grk “Is your eye evil because I am good?”