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Matthew - ch 20 v 1 - 20
- "For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
- When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius1 a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
- He went out about the third hour,2 and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.
- To them he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' So they went their way.
- Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour,3 and did likewise.
- About the eleventh hour4 he went out, and found others standing idle. He said to them, 'Why do you stand here all day idle?'
- "They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' "He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.'
- When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.'
- "When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius.
- When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius.
- When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household,
- saying, 'These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!'
- "But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn't you agree with me for a denarius?
- Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you.
- Isn't it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?'
- So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen."
- As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them,
- "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death,
- and will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, to scourge, and to crucify; and the third day he will be raised up."
- Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking a certain thing of him.
- A denarius is a silver Roman coin worth 1/25th of a Roman aureus. This was a common wage for a day of farm labor.
- Time was measured from sunrise to sunset, so the third hour would be about 9:00 AM.
- noon and 3:00 P. M.
- 5:00 PM
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