Matthew 20:1-16

Modern English Version

The Workers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

³ “Then he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, ⁴ and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. ⁵ Again he went out about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did likewise.

⁶ “About the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’

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

“He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’

⁸ “So when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’

⁹ “When they who were hired about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. ¹⁰ But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more, but each of them likewise received a denarius. ¹¹ When they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, ¹² saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us, who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’

¹³ “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what is yours and go your way. I will give to this last one even as I give to you. ¹⁵ Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’

¹⁶ “So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.”