Matthew 20:3

An Understandable Version (2005 edition)

He went out about nine o’clock in the morning and saw other unemployed laborers standing [around] in the open shopping market.

Cross References

1 Timothy 5:13

And on top of that, they learn to be idle, going around from house to house; and not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things they should not be.

Acts 2:15

For these men [i.e., the twelve apostles] are not drunk as you suppose, since it is only nine o'clock in the morning. [Note: The use of Jewish time calculations are employed in this verse].

Mark 15:25

It was nine o’clock in the morning and they crucified Him. [Note: John 19:14 indicates that the crucifixion took place about noon. This can be harmonized if we take Mark’s account to mean when the entire process began].

Hebrews 6:12

We do not want you people to be [spiritually] slack, but to imitate those who will inherit [God’s] promises because of their faith and patience.

Matthew 20:2

When he had agreed with the workers [on wages] for the usual farm laborer’s pay for a day’s work, he [then] sent them to work in his vineyard. [Note: The coin mentioned here would amount to about $9.00, based on the average farm laborer’s hourly wage in 2005. [National Agricultural Statistics Service, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Feb. 2005]. This coin also forms the basis for calculating all other monetary references in the New Testament].

Matthew 20:4

He said to them, ‘You men also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So, they went to work.

Acts 16:19

But when the girl’s slave-owners saw that their prospects for income [from her activities] were [now] gone, they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them to the open shopping market, in front of the authorities.