Matthew 20:1-5
Context20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner 1 who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 20:2 And after agreeing with the workers for the standard wage, 2 he sent them into his vineyard. 20:3 When it was about nine o’clock in the morning, 3 he went out again and saw others standing around in the marketplace without work. 20:4 He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and I will give you whatever is right.’ 20:5 So they went. When 4 he went out again about noon and three o’clock that afternoon, 5 he did the same thing.
1 sn The term landowner here refers to the owner and manager of a household.
2 tn Grk “agreeing with the workers for a denarius a day.”
sn The standard wage was a denarius a day. The denarius was a silver coin worth about a day’s wage for a laborer in Palestine in the 1st century.
3 tn Grk “about the third hour.”
4 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
5 tn Grk “he went out again about the sixth and ninth hour.”