The Workers in the Vineyard

¹“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man who was the head of a household and went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.” ²After agreeing with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³Around 9 in the morning, he went out again and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. ⁴He told them, 'Go work in my vineyard too, and I'll pay you whatever is fair.' So they went. ⁵He went out again around noon and again around 3 in the afternoon, doing the same thing each time. ⁶About the eleventh hour, he went out and found others standing idle. He said to them, “Why have you stood here idle all day?” ⁷They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.' He told them, 'Go into the vineyard too, and you will receive whatever is right.' ⁸When evening came, the vineyard owner told his manager, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages — but start with the ones who were hired last and end with the ones hired first.' ⁹The workers hired at 5 in the afternoon came forward, and each one received a denarius. ¹⁰But when the workers who were hired first came, they expected to receive more. Each of them also received one denarius. ¹¹When they got their pay, they complained to the landowner. ¹²They said, 'These last ones worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us, who have borne the burden and heat of the day.' ¹³But the landowner replied to one of them, 'Friend, I haven't cheated you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴“Take what is yours and go your way. I will give to this last one even as to you.” ¹⁵Is it not lawful for me to do what I want with my own? Is your eye evil because I am good? ¹⁶So the last will be first, and the first will be last: for many are called, but few are chosen.