Open Bible Data Home About News OET Key
OET OET-RV OET-LV ULT UST BSB MSB BLB AICNT OEB WEBBE WMBB NET LSV FBV TCNT T4T LEB BBE Moff JPS Wymth ASV DRA YLT Drby RV SLT Wbstr KJB-1769 KJB-1611 Bshps Gnva Cvdl TNT Wycl SR-GNT UHB BrLXX BrTr Related Topics Parallel Interlinear Reference Dictionary Search
InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Mat C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28
Mat 20 V1 V2 V3 V4 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23 V24 V25 V26 V27 V28 V29 V30 V31 V32 V33 V34
OET (OET-LV) And they went_away.
Having_come_out again about the_sixth and ninth hour, he_did likewise.
In this section, Jesus told a parable about some vineyard workers and the man who owned the vineyard. Even though the workers worked for a different number of hours, the owner gave them all the same pay. This parable continues the discussion about rewards for being a disciple (19:27–29). It also helps to explain the meaning of the saying “many who are first will be last, and the last will be first” (19:30). The main point of the parable is about God’s grace. In the kingdom, God gives his servants much more than they deserve. In the kingdom, the values are different than the values here on earth.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
The story about men who worked in a field of grapes
A story that shows God’s generosity/grace
Rewards for serving God
This parable occurs only in the book of Matthew.
So they went.
So they went to work in the grape farm.
They agreed and went to work in the field of grapes.
So: Verse 20:5a is the result of what the master said to the workers in 20:4. The BSB introduces this result with the conjunction So.
they went: There is some implied information here. The full sentence would be:
they went to work in the vineyard. (NLT)
He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour
At about 12 o’clock noon and again at about 3 o’clock, he went out again
The landowner went to the public square again about mid-day and again about mid-afternoon.
He went out: The verb went out here is the same verb as in 20:3a. The landowner went outside his house. He left his house and went back to the marketplace. You should translate it here as you did there.
about the sixth hour and the ninth hour: These two phrases describe specific hours after sunrise (like “the third hour” in 20:3a). So, the sixth hour corresponds to 12 o’clock noon, and the ninth hour corresponds to 3 o’clock in the afternoon.
Here are some other ways to translate these phrases:
at twelve o’clock and again at three o’clock (GNT)
about noon and 3 p.m. (GW)
around midday and again in the middle of the afternoon
and did the same thing.
and hired more workers.
Each time, he found more men and told them also to go work in his field of grapes.
did the same thing: The words did the same means that the master did the same action each time. Each time that he went out, he found more workers waiting around in the marketplace. And each time he sent them also into his vineyard to work.
In some languages, it will be more natural to make some of this information explicit. For example:
Each time, he found more workers standing around in the market. And each time, he told them to go and work in his vineyard.
each time he made the same agreement with others who were loafing around with nothing to do (CEV)
In some languages, it will be natural to have the time phrases at the beginning of the sentence. In other languages, these phrases will be more natural at the end. For example:
About noon and about three o’clock he went out again and did the same thing.
He went out again and did the same thing at noon and at three o’clock.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
οἱ & ἀπῆλθον
they & went_away
Here Jesus implies that the people went to the vineyard and began to work there. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [they went to the vineyard and worked there]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / go
ἀπῆλθον
went_away
In a context such as this, your language might say “came” instead of went. Alternate translation: [came out]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / go
ἐξελθὼν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: οἱ Δέ ἀπῆλθον πάλιν Ἐξελθών περί ἕκτην καί ἐνάτην ὥραν ἐποίησεν ὡσαύτως)
In a context such as this, your language might say “come” instead of gone. Alternate translation: [Having come out]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
περὶ ἕκτην καὶ ἐνάτην ὥραν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: οἱ Δέ ἀπῆλθον πάλιν Ἐξελθών περί ἕκτην καί ἐνάτην ὥραν ἐποίησεν ὡσαύτως)
In this culture, people began counting the hours each day beginning around daybreak at six o’clock in the morning. So, the sixth hour would be around noon, and the ninth hour would be around three o’clock in the afternoon. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express this in the way the people of your culture reckon time. See how you translated the similar time reference in [20:3](../20/03.md). Alternate translation: [about 12:00 PM and 3:00 PM]
Note 5 topic: translate-ordinal
ἕκτην καὶ ἐνάτην ὥραν
˓the˒_sixth (Some words not found in SR-GNT: οἱ Δέ ἀπῆλθον πάλιν Ἐξελθών περί ἕκτην καί ἐνάτην ὥραν ἐποίησεν ὡσαύτως)
If your language does not use ordinal numbers, you could use a cardinal number here or an equivalent expression. Alternate translation: [hours six and nine]
Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ἐποίησεν ὡσαύτως
˱he˲_did likewise
Here Jesus means that the master of the house did and said the same things that he said and did at “the third hour” (see [20:3–4](../20/03–4.md)). He also implies that there were people in the marketplace who agreed to work in his vineyard. If it would be helpful in your language, you could make some or all of that information more explicit. Alternate translation: [he told even more people that he would pay them whatever is right, and they too agreed to work in his vineyard]
20:1-16 This parable is similar to the parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32). In both, God’s grace is shown to two parties while one grumbles about unjust treatment.
OET (OET-LV) And they went_away.
Having_come_out again about the_sixth and ninth hour, he_did likewise.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.