Read-aloud uses AI-generated Orakel narrator voices when available. Voice names are Orakel styles, not provider names.
Matthew Chapter 20 020:001 "For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 020:002 When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius{A denarius is a silver Roman coin worth 1/25th of a Roman aureus. This was a common wage for a day of farm labor.} a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
020:003 He went out about the third hour,{Time was measured from sunrise to sunset, so the third hour would be about 9:00 AM.} and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. 020:004 To them he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' So they went their way. 020:005 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour,{noon and 3:00 P. M.} and did likewise. 020:006 About the eleventh hour{5:00 PM} he went out, and found others standing idle.
He said to them, 'Why do you stand here all day idle?' 020:007 "They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' "He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.' 020:008 When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.' 020:009 "When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius.
020:010 When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius. 020:011 When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household, 020:012 saying, 'These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!' 020:013 "But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn't you agree with me for a denarius? 020:014 Take that which is yours, and go your way.
It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you. 020:015 Isn't it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?' 020:016 So the last will be first, and the first last.
For many are called, but few are chosen." 020:017 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 020:018 "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, 020:019 and will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, to scourge, and to crucify; and the third day he will be raised up." 020:020 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking a certain thing of him.
020:021 He said to her, "What do you want?" She said to him, "Command that these, my two sons, may sit, one on your right hand, and one on your left hand, in your Kingdom." 020:022 But Jesus answered, "You don't know what you are asking.
Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They said to him, "We are able." 020:023 He said to them, "You will indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it is for whom it has been prepared by my Father." 020:024 When the ten heard it, they were indignant with the two brothers.
020:025 But Jesus summoned them, and said, "You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 020:026 It shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be{TR reads "let him be" instead of "shall be"} your servant.
020:027 Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant, 020:028 even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." 020:029 As they went out from Jericho, a great multitude followed him.
020:030 Behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!" 020:031 The multitude rebuked them, telling them that they should be quiet, but they cried out even more, "Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!" 020:032 Jesus stood still, and called them, and asked, "What do you want me to do for you?" 020:033 They told him, "Lord, that our eyes may be opened." 020:034 Jesus, being moved with compassion, touched their eyes; and immediately their eyes received their sight, and they followed him.