MAT 20:3 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=small word differences Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

Key: khaki:verbs, orange:accusative/object, cyan:dative/indirect object.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT And having gone out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace.

UST At about nine o’clock in the morning, the man arrived in the town’s open area again. He noticed more people there who wanted to work.

BSB About the third hour[fn] he went out [and] saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.

BLB And having gone out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

AICNT And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace

OEB On going out again, about nine o’clock, he saw some others standing in the marketplace, doing nothing.

WEBBE He went out about the third hour,[fn] and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.

20:3 Time was measured from sunrise to sunset, so the third hour would be about 9:00 a.m.

WMBB (Same as above including footnotes)

NET When it was about nine o’clock in the morning, he went out again and saw others standing around in the marketplace without work.

LSV And having gone forth about the third hour, he saw others standing in the marketplace idle,

FBV Around 9 a.m. he went out and saw others without work standing in the marketplace.

TCNT About the third hour he went out and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.

T4T At nine o’clock that same morning he went back to the market. There he saw more men who did not have work.

LEB And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace.

BBE And he went out about the third hour, and saw others in the market-place doing nothing;

Moff Then, on going out at nine o'clock he noticed some other labourers standing in the marketplace doing nothing;

Wymth About nine o'clock he went out and saw others loitering in the market-place.

ASV And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing in the marketplace idle;

DRA And going about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle.

YLT 'And having gone forth about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market-place idle,

Drby And having gone out about [the] third hour, he saw others standing in the market-place idle;

RV And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing in the marketplace idle;

SLT And having gone out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the market-place,

Wbstr And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the market-place,

KJB-1769 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

KJB-1611 And he went out about the third houre, and saw others standing idle in the market place,
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above)

Bshps And he went out about the thirde houre, and sawe other standyng idle in the market place,
(And he went out about the third hour, and saw other standing idle in the marketplace,)

Gnva And he went out about the third houre, and sawe other standing idle in the market place,
(And he went out about the third hour, and saw other standing idle in the marketplace, )

Cvdl And aboute ye thirde houre he wente out, and sawe other stondinge ydle in the market place,
(And about ye/you_all third hour he went out, and saw other standing idle in the marketplace,)

TNT And he went out about the thyrde houre and sawe other stonding ydell in the market place
(And he went out about the third hour and saw other stonding ydell in the marketplace )

Wycl And he yede out aboute the thridde our, and say othere stondynge idel in the chepyng.
(And he went out about the third our, and say other standing idle in the shopping.)

Luth Und ging aus um die dritte Stunde und sah andere an dem Markt müßig stehen
(And went out_of around/by/for the third hour and saw other/different at/to to_him marketplace müßig stand)

ClVg Et egressus circa horam tertiam, vidit alios stantes in foro otiosos,
(And going_out around/about an_hour third, he_saw others standing in/into/on forum leisuresos, )

UGNT καὶ ἐξελθὼν περὶ τρίτην ὥραν, εἶδεν ἄλλους ἑστῶτας ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ ἀργούς;
(kai exelthōn peri tritaʸn hōran, eiden allous hestōtas en taʸ agora argous;)

SBL-GNT καὶ ἐξελθὼν περὶ τρίτην ὥραν εἶδεν ἄλλους ἑστῶτας ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ ἀργούς·
(kai exelthōn peri tritaʸn hōran eiden allous hestōtas en taʸ agora argous;)

RP-GNT Καὶ ἐξελθὼν περὶ τρίτην ὥραν, εἶδεν ἄλλους ἑστῶτας ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ ἀργούς·
(Kai exelthōn peri tritaʸn hōran, eiden allous hestōtas en taʸ agora argous;)

TC-GNT Καὶ ἐξελθὼν περὶ [fn]τρίτην ὥραν, εἶδεν ἄλλους ἑστῶτας ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ ἀργούς·
(Kai exelthōn peri tritaʸn hōran, eiden allous hestōtas en taʸ agora argous; )

20:3 τριτην ¦ την τριτην TR

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 20:1–16: Jesus told a parable about vineyard workers

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.

20:3a

About the third hour he went out

About 9 o’clock in the morning, he went out
In the middle of the morning, he returned

About the third hour: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as the third hour refers to the third hour after sunrise. That generally indicates 9 o’clock in the morning. The word About means that this is an approximate time.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

about 9 o’clock (NCV)

About 9 a.m. (GW)

at mid-morning

he went out: The Greek verb that the BSB translates as went out indicates that the master of the house went outside his house. He left his house and went back to the marketplace.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

the man went to the marketplace (NCV)

he returned to the market

20:3b

and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.

to the market again and saw other men standing around doing nothing.
to the public square and saw other men waiting there with no work to do.

saw others: The Greek word that the BSB translates as others refers to other men. They were men like the ones whom the master of the house first met.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

the man saw some other people (CEV)

he found some more men

standing: The word standing means that the men were present in the marketplace. Some were possibly sitting or squatting as they waited for work. It does not necessarily mean that all the men were actually standing on their feet.

Here is another way to translate this word:

waiting around

in the marketplace: The marketplace was an open space in the middle of the village. It was used for a market. It was also a place where children played and where people gathered for any purpose at all.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

market (GNT)

public square

doing nothing: In this context, doing nothing means that these men were not working. They were waiting to be hired. Your translation should not imply that they were lazy or did not want to work.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

idle (ESV)

waiting for a job

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / go

ἐξελθὼν

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ἐξελθών περί τρίτην ὥραν εἶδεν ἄλλους ἑστῶτας ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ ἀργούς)

In a context such as this, your language might say “come” instead of gone. Alternate translation: [having come out]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

περὶ τρίτην ὥραν

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ἐξελθών περί τρίτην ὥραν εἶδεν ἄλλους ἑστῶτας ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ ἀργούς)

In this culture, people began counting the hours each day beginning around daybreak, at about six o’clock in the morning. So, the third hour would be around nine o’clock in the morning. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express this in the way the people of your culture reckon time. Alternate translation: [about 9:00 AM]

Note 3 topic: translate-ordinal

τρίτην ὥραν

˓the˒_third hour

If your language does not use ordinal numbers, you could use a cardinal number here or an equivalent expression. Alternate translation: [hour three]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ἑστῶτας ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ ἀργούς

˓having˒_stood in the marketplace idle

In Jesus’ culture, people would wait in the marketplace when they wanted to find work. If they had not yet found work, they would be standing idle. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [standing in the marketplace still looking for work]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

τῇ ἀγορᾷ

the marketplace

A marketplace is a large, open-air area where people buy and sell goods. If your readers would not be familiar with this type of area, you could use the name of something similar in your area or you could use a more general term. See how you translated this word in [11:16](../11/16.md). Alternate translation: [the town square] or [the park]

Parallel MAT 20:3

Section 20:1–16: Jesus told a parable about vineyard workers

20:3a

20:3b