The Parable of the Workers
The landowner goes out early, agrees with the first workers on a day’s wage, and sends them into the vineyard. He later finds others idle in the marketplace and promises to give them what is right.
“1For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4‘You also go into my vineyard,’ he said, ‘and I will pay you whatever is right.’
More workers are found near the end of the day, still standing without work. At evening, the owner orders payment to begin with the last hired, so the whole line of workers sees the same arrangement.
5So they went. 6About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ he asked. 7‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. 8When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last ones hired and moving on to the first.’
Each late worker receives a denarius, and the first workers expect more. When they receive the same amount, they grumble that the latecomers were made equal to them despite the heat and burden they carried.
9The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10So when the original workers came, they assumed they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarius. 11On receiving their pay, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’
The owner answers that he has done no wrong, since they agreed on the wage. He claims the right to give as he chooses and asks whether their eye is bad because he is good, ending with the reversal of first and last.
13But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Did you not agree with me on one denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give this last man the same as I gave you. 15Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”