Limitless Word
He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.
Matthew 20:2 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
  • KJV And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
  • BSB He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
  • NKJV Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
  • NASB When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.

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 agrees with the first workers on a denarius—a fair day's wage—and sends them to work. This sets the baseline expectation the parable will later challenge.

Overview

A denarius was the standard daily wage for a laborer, so the first workers receive exactly what is just. By establishing a clear contract, the parable highlights that these workers get what they earned, nothing less. The contrast with the later workers, who receive the same out of generosity, will expose the difference between earned wages and free grace.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 18

  • Luke 10:35On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, and gave them to the host, and said to him, ‘Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.’
  • Exod 19:5–6Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine;
  • 2 Tim 3:15From infancy, you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.
  • Matt 22:19Show me the tax money.” They brought to him a denarius.
  • 1 Sam 2:18But Samuel ministered before Yahweh, being a child, clothed with a linen ephod.
  • Eccl 12:1Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;
  • 1 Sam 16:11–12Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your children here?” He said, “There remains yet the youngest. Behold, he is keeping the sheep.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down until he comes here.”
  • Deut 5:27–30Go near, and hear all that Yahweh our God shall say, and tell us all that Yahweh our God tells you; and we will hear it, and do it.”
  • 1 Kgs 3:6–11Solomon said, “You have shown to your servant David my father great loving kindness, because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.
  • Matt 20:13“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius?
  • 1 Sam 2:26The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Yahweh, and also with men.
  • Luke 1:15For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
  • Matt 18:28“But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, who owed him one hundred denarii, and he grabbed him, and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’
  • 2 Chr 34:3For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, the Asherah poles, the engraved images, and the molten images.
  • Rev 6:6I heard a voice in the middle of the four living creatures saying, “A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenix of barley for a denarius! Don’t damage the oil and the wine!”
  • 1 Kgs 18:12It will happen, as soon as I leave you, that Yahweh’s Spirit will carry you I don’t know where; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he can’t find you, he will kill me. But I, your servant, have feared Yahweh from my youth.
  • 1 Sam 3:1The child Samuel ministered to Yahweh before Eli. Yahweh’s word was precious in those days. There visions were not frequent.
  • 1 Sam 3:21Yahweh appeared again in Shiloh; for Yahweh revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by Yahweh’s word.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (10)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Matthew videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Matthew 20:2YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on MatthewMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 20:2 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.