Matthew 20:1-15

Context

Workers in the Vineyard

20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner¹ 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,² he sent them into his vineyard. 20:3 When it was about nine o’clock in the morning,³ 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. When⁴ he went out again about noon and three o’clock that afternoon,⁵ he did the same thing. 20:6 And about five o’clock that afternoon⁶ 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 When⁷ it was evening⁸ the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and give the pay⁹ 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.¹⁰ 20:10 And when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But each one also received the standard wage. 20:11 When¹¹ they received it, they began to complain¹² 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 landowner¹³ replied to one of them,¹⁴ ‘Friend, I am not treating you unfairly. Didn’t you agree with me to work for the standard wage?¹⁵ 20:14 Take what is yours and go. I¹⁶ want to give to this last man¹⁷ the same as I gave to you. 20:15 Am I not¹⁸ permitted to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’¹⁹

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

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

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

[20:5] ⁴tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

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

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

[20:8] ⁷tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

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

[20:8] ⁹tc ‡ 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] ¹⁰tn Grk “each received a denarius.” See the note on the phrase “standard wage” in v. 2.

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

[20:11] ¹²tn The imperfect verb ἐγόγγυζον (egonguzon) has been translated ingressively.

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

[20:13] ¹⁴tn 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] ¹⁵tn Grk “for a denarius a day.”

[20:14] ¹⁶tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[20:14] ¹⁷tn Grk “this last one,” translated as “this last man” because field laborers in 1st century Palestine were men.

[20:15] ¹⁸tc ‡ 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] ¹⁹tn Grk “Is your eye evil because I am good?”