Matthew 19:27-20:16

New International Version

²⁷ Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you!^(A) What then will there be for us?”

²⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne,^(B) you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.^{(C) 29} And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife^[a] or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.^{(D) 30} But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.^(E)

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like^(F) a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.^{(G) 2} He agreed to pay them a denarius^[b] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

³ “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴ He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ ⁵ So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. ⁶ About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

⁷ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

⁸ “When evening came,^(H) the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

⁹ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. ¹⁰ So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ When they received it, they began to grumble^(I) against the landowner. ¹² ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat^(J) of the day.’

¹³ “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend.^(K) Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵ Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’^(L)

¹⁶ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”^(M)