¹⁰ When God saw their actions, that they had turned from their evil way, God relented from the disaster which he said he would bring on them, and he did not carry it out.

The Lord Teaches Jonah a Lesson About Grace

4 But to Jonah all this seemed very bad, and he became very angry. ² He prayed to the Lord, “Lord, wasn’t this exactly what I said when I was still in my own country? That is why I previously fled to Tarshish, because I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and you relent from sending disaster. ³ So now, Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

⁴ But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

⁵ Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city. He made a shelter for himself there and sat in the shade under it, waiting to see what would happen in the city.

⁶ Then the Lord God provided a plant and made it grow up over Jonah to provide shade over his head, to relieve him from his discomfort. So Jonah was very happy about the plant. ⁷ But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, and it attacked the plant so that it withered. ⁸ When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind. The sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, so he said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

⁹ But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

Jonah said, “I do have a right to be angry—angry enough to die!”

¹⁰ So the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant. You did not work for it or make it grow. It grew up in one night and perished after one night. ¹¹ So should I not be concerned for Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not know the difference between their right hand and their left—and also many animals?”

The Workers in the Vineyard

20 “Indeed the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ² After agreeing to pay the workers a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ He also went out about the third hour^[a] and saw others standing unemployed in the marketplace. ⁴ To these he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever is right.’ So they went. ⁵ Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour and did the same thing. ⁶ When he went out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing unemployed. He said to them, ‘Why have you stood here all day unemployed?’

⁷ “They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’

“He told them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ ⁸ When it was evening, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last group and ending with the first.’

⁹ “When those who were hired around the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. ¹⁰ When those who were hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But they each received a denarius too. ¹¹ After they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner: ¹² ‘Those who were last worked one hour, and you made them equal to us who have endured the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’

¹³ “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not make an agreement with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what is yours and go. I want to give to the last one hired the same as I also gave to you. ¹⁵ Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ ¹⁶ In the same way, the last will be first, and the first, last.”

⁶ This does not mean that God’s word has failed, because not all who are descended from Israel are really Israel, ⁷ and not all who are descended from Abraham are really his children. On the contrary, “Your line of descent will be traced through Isaac.”^{[a] 8} This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are counted as his descendants. ⁹ For this is what the promise said: “I will arrive at this set time, and Sarah will have a son.”^[b]

God’s Choice Is Based on His Mercy

¹⁰ Not only that, but Rebekah also had children by one man, our forefather, Isaac. ¹¹ Even before the twins were born or did anything good or bad, in order that God’s purpose in election might continue— ¹² not by works but because of him who calls us—it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.”^{[c] 13} Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”^[d]

¹⁴ What will we say then? Does this mean that God is unjust? Absolutely not! ¹⁵ For God says to Moses:

¹⁶ So then, it does not depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.