God's Word Translation

Matthew 20:8-24 God's Word Translation (GW)

8. “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard told the supervisor, ‘Call the workers, and give them their wages. Start with the last, and end with the first.’

9. “Those who started working about 5 p.m. came, and each received a day’s wages.

10. When those who had been hired first came, they expected to receive more. But each of them received a day’s wages.

11. Although they took it, they began to protest to the owner.

12. They said, ‘These last workers have worked only one hour. Yet, you’ve treated us all the same, even though we worked hard all day under a blazing sun.’

13. “The owner said to one of them, ‘Friend, I’m not treating you unfairly. Didn’t you agree with me on a day’s wages?

14. Take your money and go! I want to give this last worker as much as I gave you.

15. Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Or do you resent my generosity towards others?’

16. “In this way the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

17. When Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, he took the twelve apostles aside and said to them privately,

18. “We’re going to Jerusalem. There the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings. They will condemn him to death

19. and hand him over to foreigners. They will make fun of him, whip him, and crucify him. But on the third day he will be brought back to life.”

20. Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her two sons. She bowed down in front of him to ask him for a favor.

21. “What do you want?” he asked her.She said to him, “Promise that one of my sons will sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

22. Jesus replied, “You don’t realize what you’re asking. Can you drink the cup that I’m going to drink?”“We can,” they told him.

23. Jesus said to them, “You will drink my cup. But I don’t have the authority to grant you a seat at my right or left. My Father has already prepared these positions for certain people.”

24. When the other ten apostles heard about this, they were irritated with the two brothers.