He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.
Parallel translations
- KJV And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
- BSB About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.
- NKJV And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
- NASB And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace;
- NLT “At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing.
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
At mid-morning the landowner finds others standing idle in the marketplace. His repeated hiring shows his eagerness to bring more workers in.
Overview
The third hour (around 9 a.m.) marks the landowner's continued initiative in seeking laborers. The idle men picture those not yet called into the master's work. This pattern of repeated calling throughout the day pictures God's ongoing, gracious summons to people at every stage and season of life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 1 Tim 5:13Besides, they also learn to be idle, going about from house to house. Not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not.
- Prov 19:15Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep. The idle soul shall suffer hunger.
- Acts 17:17–21So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who met him.
- Acts 2:15For these aren’t drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is only the third hour of the day.
- Matt 20:6–7About the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’
- Mark 15:25It was the third hour, and they crucified him.
- Ezek 16:49“‘“Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
- Matt 11:16–17“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call to their companions
- Heb 6:12that you won’t be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherited the promises.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 20:3 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.