20
“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. When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius+ a day, he sent them into his vineyard. He went out about the third hour,+ and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour,+ and did likewise. About the eleventh hour+ he went out, and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’
“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.’ 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.’
“When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. 10  When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius. 11  When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household, 12  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!’
13  “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius? 14  Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you. 15  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?’ 16  So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.”
17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 18  “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, 19  and will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, to scourge, and to crucify; and the third day he will be raised up.”
20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking a certain thing of him. 21 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.”
22 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.”
23 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.”
24 When the ten heard it, they were indignant with the two brothers.
25 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. 26  It shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be+ your servant. 27  Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant, 28  even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
29 As they went out from Jericho, a great multitude followed him. 30 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!” 31 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!”
32 Jesus stood still, and called them, and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”
33 They told him, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.”
34 Jesus, being moved with compassion, touched their eyes; and immediately their eyes received their sight, and they followed him.
+1:1Messiah (Hebrew) and Christ (Greek) both mean “Anointed One”+1:16“Jesus” means “Salvation”.+1:20“Behold”, from “ἰδοὺ”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.+2:1The word for “wise men” (magoi) can also mean teachers, scientists, physicians, astrologers, seers, interpreters of dreams, or sorcerers.+3:6or, immersed+3:7or, immersion+3:11or, immerse+3:11TR and NU add “and with fire”+3:13i.e., the Jordan River+4:10TR and NU read “Go away” instead of “Get behind me”+4:18TR reads “Jesus” instead of “he”+5:5or, land.+5:18literally, iota+5:18or, serif+5:22NU omits “without a cause”.+5:22“Raca” is an Aramaic insult, related to the word for “empty” and conveying the idea of empty-headedness.+5:22or, Hell+5:26literally, kodrantes. A kodrantes was a small copper coin worth about 2 lepta (widow’s mites)—not enough to buy very much of anything.+5:27TR adds “to the ancients”.+5:29or, Hell+5:30or, Hell+5:43Leviticus 19:18+5:43not in the Bible, but see Qumran Manual of Discipline Ix, 21-26+5:47NU reads “Gentiles” instead of “tax collectors”.+6:13NU omits “For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.”+6:27literally, cubit+7:14TR reads “Because” instead of “How”+8:15TR reads “them” instead of “him”+8:28NU reads “Gadarenes”+9:13NU omits “to repentance”.+9:20or, tassel+9:36TR reads “weary” instead of “harassed”+10:3NU omits “Lebbaeus, who was also called”+10:8TR adds “raise the dead,”+10:25Literally, Lord of the Flies, or the devil+10:28or, Hell.+10:29An assarion is a small coin worth one tenth of a drachma or a sixteenth of a denarius. An assarion is approximately the wages of one half hour of agricultural labor.+11:12or, plunder it.+11:19NU reads “actions” instead of “children”+11:23or, Hell+12:35TR adds “of the heart”+13:25darnel is a weed grass (probably bearded darnel or lolium temulentum) that looks very much like wheat until it is mature, when the difference becomes very apparent.+13:33literally, three sata 3 sata is about 39 liters or a bit more than a bushel+13:55or, Judah+14:25The night was equally divided into four watches, so the fourth watch is approximately 3:00 a.m. to sunrise.+14:27or, I AM!+14:36or, tassel+16:18Peter’s name, Petros in Greek, is the word for a specific rock or stone.+16:18Greek, petra, a rock mass or bedrock.+16:18or, Hell+17:21NU omits verse 21.+17:24A didrachma is a Greek silver coin worth 2 drachmas, about as much as 2 Roman denarii, or about 2 days’ wages. It was commonly used to pay the half-shekel temple tax, because 2 drachmas were worth one half shekel of silver. A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces.+17:27A stater is a silver coin equivalent to four Attic or two Alexandrian drachmas, or a Jewish shekel: just exactly enough to cover the half-shekel temple tax for two people. A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces, usually in the form of a silver coin.+18:9or, Hell+18:24Ten thousand talents (about 300 metric tons of silver) represents an extremely large sum of money, equivalent to about 60,000,000 denarii, where one denarius was typical of one day’s wages for agricultural labor.+18:28100 denarii was about one sixtieth of a talent, or about 500 grams (1.1 pounds) of silver.+19:17So MT and TR. NU reads “Why do you ask me about what is good?”+20:2A denarius is a silver Roman coin worth 1/25th of a Roman aureus. This was a common wage for a day of farm labor.+20:3Time was measured from sunrise to sunset, so the third hour would be about 9:00 a.m..+20:5noon and 3:00 p.m.+20:65:00 p.m.+20:26TR reads “let him be” instead of “shall be”