1. “God’s kingdom is like a man who owned some land. One morning, the man went out very early to hire some people to work in his vineyard.
2. He agreed to pay the workers one silver coin for working that day. Then he sent them into the vineyard to work.
3. “About nine o’clock the man went to the marketplace and saw some other people standing there. They were doing nothing.
4. So he said to them, ‘If you go and work in my field, I will pay you what your work is worth.’
5. So they went to work in the vineyard. “The man went out again about twelve o’clock and again at three o’clock. Both times he hired some others to work in his vineyard.
6. About five o’clock the man went to the marketplace again. He saw some other people standing there. He asked them, ‘Why did you stand here all day doing nothing?’
7. “They said, ‘No one gave us a job.’ “The man said to them, ‘Then you can go and work in my vineyard.’
8. “At the end of the day, the owner of the field said to the boss of all the workers, ‘Call the workers and pay them all. Start by paying the last people I hired. Then pay all of them, ending with the ones I hired first.’
9. “The workers who were hired at five o’clock came to get their pay. Each worker got one silver coin.
10. Then the workers who were hired first came to get their pay. They thought they would be paid more than the others. But each one of them also received one silver coin.
11. When they got their silver coin, they complained to the man who owned the land.