So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
| Word | Greek | Strong’s | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| So | δὲ de | G1161 | but · conjunction |
| when | γενομένης genomenēs | G1096 | to cause to be ("gen"-erate) · verb — second aorist middle deponent participle, genitive singular feminine |
| even | Ὀψίας Opsias | G3798 | late · adjective — genitive singular feminine |
| was come | γίνομαι gínomai | G1096 | to cause to be ("gen"-erate) |
| the lord | κύριος kurios | G2962 | supreme in authority · noun — nominative singular masculine |
| of the vineyard | ἀμπελῶνος ampelōnos | G290 | a vineyard · noun — genitive singular masculine |
| saith | λέγει legei | G3004 | properly · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular |
| unto | ἐπιτρόπῳ epitropō | G2012 | a commissioner · noun — dative singular masculine |
| his | αὐτοῦ· autou | G846 | the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine |
| steward | ἐπίτροπος epítropos | G2012 | a commissioner |
| Call | κάλεσον kaleson | G2564 | to "call" (properly · verb — aorist active imperative, 2nd person singular |
| the labourers | ἐργάτας ergatas | G2040 | a toiler · noun — accusative plural masculine |
| and | καὶ kai | G2532 | and · conjunction |
| give | ἀπόδος apodos | G591 | to give away · verb — second aorist active imperative, 2nd person singular |
| them | αὐτοῖς autois | G846 | the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative plural masculine |
| hire | μισθὸν misthon | G3408 | pay for service (literally or figuratively) · noun — accusative singular masculine |
| beginning | ἄρχομαι árchomai | G756 | to commence (in order of time) |
| from | ἀπὸ apo | G575 | "off · preposition |
| the last | ἐσχάτων eschatōn | G2078 | farthest · adjective — genitive plural masculine |
| unto | ἕως he'ōs | G2193 | a conjunction · preposition |
| the first | πρώτων. prōtōn | G4413 | foremost (in time · adjective — genitive plural masculine |
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
So when even was come--that is, the reckoning time between masters and laborers (see Deu 24:15); pointing to the day of final account. the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward--answering to Christ Himself, represented "as a Son over His own house" (Heb 3:6; see Mat 11:27; Joh 3:35; Joh 5:27). Call the labourers and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first--Remarkable direction this--last hired, first paid.
So when even was come,.... At six o'clock, or when the sun was set, which was the time of paying labourers their wages: thus in the parable of the Jews, before referred to, which bears some resemblance to this, it is said, "bre tel, (s) that "at evening time" the labourers came to take their wages.'' Sooner than this, one that was hired for a day, could not demand it; nor was the master of the vineyard, who hired him, obliged to pay him till the sun was set (t), which was the time of his going forth from his labour (u). This even may be understood, either of the evening of the Jewish state, upon the calling of the Gentiles; or of the end of the world, the close of the Gospel dispensation;…
Read the whole note in the consoleMatthew 20:1-16 Matthew 20:1-16 1. For the kingdom of heaven is like a householder, who went out at break of day to hire laborers into his vineyard. 2. And having made an agreement with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3. And having gone out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the market-place. 4. And he said to them, Go you also into the vineyard, and whatever shall be right I will give you. 5. And they went away. And again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and acted in the same manner. 6. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and said to them, Why stand you here all the day idle? 7. They say to h…
Read the whole note in the consoleBut when they had rendered their day's task, at the fitting time for payment, When even was come, that is, when the day of this world was drawing to its close.
Or; The Lord said to his steward, that is, to one of the Angels who was set over the payment of the labourers; or to one of those many guardians, according to what is written, that The heir as long as he is a child is under tutors and governors. (Gal. 4:2.)
Did not the thief come at the eleventh hour, who, even if he did not have time through age, yet had it late through punishment, who confessed God on the cross, and breathed out the spirit of life almost with the voice of his sentence? The householder began to give the denarius from the last, because he led the thief to the rest of paradise before Peter.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Payment followed the day’s work (Deut 24:14-15).
Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
