Take your pay and go. I want to give this last man the same as I gave you.
Parallel translations
- WEB Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you.
- KJV Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.
- NKJV Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.
- NASB Take what is yours and go; but I want to give to this last person the same as to you.
- NLT Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The landowner tells the worker to take his pay and go, for it is his will to give the latecomer the same. The master's generosity is his own to bestow freely.
Overview
The master asserts his right to be generous with the latecomers, giving them the same wage by choice, not obligation. This pictures God's sovereign freedom to dispense grace as he pleases. Salvation comes not as a wage owed to long service but as a gift of the Master's good pleasure.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- John 17:2For You granted Him authority over all people, so that He may give eternal life to all those You have given Him.
- Luke 15:31‘Son, you are always with me,’ the father said, ‘and all that is mine is yours.
- Matt 6:2So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
- Ezek 29:18–20“Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre. Every head was made bald and every shoulder made raw. But he and his army received no wages from Tyre for the labor they expended on it.
- Matt 6:16When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
- Rom 3:19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
- Matt 6:6But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
- 2 Kgs 10:30–31Nevertheless, the LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in My sight and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.”
- Rom 3:4Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that You may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge.”
- 2 Kgs 10:16saying, “Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD!” So he had him ride in his chariot.
- Luke 16:25But Abraham answered, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 20:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.