File:Vineyard Owner and Laborers Parable - Codex Aureus Epternacensis f76f Detail.jpg

Summary
Matthew 20:1–16

20:1. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the master of the household who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

20:2. “After having agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

20:3. “Going out about the third hour after dawn, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace.

20:4. “He said to them, 'Go into my vineyard too, and I will give you what shall be just.'

'''20:5. “They went their way. He went out again about the sixth and the ninth hour after dawn, and did it in a similar manner.'''

20:6. “But about the eleventh hour after dawn he went out and found others standing idle, and he said to them, 'Why did you stand here idle all day?'

20:7. “They said to him, 'Because no man has hired us.' He said to them, 'Go into my vineyard too.'

20:8. “When evening came, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last even to the first.'

20:9. “Those that came about the eleventh hour after dawn received a denarius.

'''20:10. “But when the first also came, they thought that they should receive more. Every man also received a denarius.'''

20:11. “After receiving it, they murmured against the master of the house,

20:12. “saying, 'These last have worked but one hour, and you have made them equal to us that have borne the burden of the day and the heat.'

20:13. “But he said to one of them, 'Friend, I do you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius?

20:14. “'Take what is yours and go your way; I will also give to this last one even as to you.

'''20:15. “'Or, is it not lawful for me to do what I will? Are you envious because I am generous?

What I will. . .Viz., with my own, and in matters that depend on my own bounty.

'''20:16. “So shall the last be first and the first last. For many are called but few chosen.”'''

Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard: Workers on the field, de:Codex aureus Epternacensis, fol. 76f, detail Date: 11th century Source: Codex Aureus Epternacensis Author: from the Middle Ages, unknown This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to Australia, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.