Matthew 20:1-12 ▼

1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

2 “And when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.

3 “And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place;

4 and to those he said, ‘You too go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went.

5 “Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing.

6 “And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing; and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’

7 “They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into the vineyard.’

8 “And when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’

9 “And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius.

10 “And when those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; and they also received each one a denarius.

11 “And when they received it, they grumbled at the landowner,

12 saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’