Matthew 20 - Easy To Read Version

¹ “The kingdom of heaven is like a man that owned some land. The man grew grapes on his land. One morning, the man went out very early to hire some other people to work in his field.

² The man agreed to pay the workers one silver coin {\cf2\super [272]} for working that day. Then the man sent the people into the field to work.

³ “At about nine o’clock the man went to the market place and saw some other people standing there. These people were doing nothing.

⁴ So the man said to them, ‘If you go and work in my field, I will pay you what your work is worth.’

⁵ So the people went to work in the field.

⁶ At about five o’clock the man went to the market place again. He saw some other people standing there. The man asked them, ‘Why did you stand here all day doing nothing?’

⁷ “The people said, ‘No person gave us a job.’

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 all of them. Start by paying the last people I hired. Then pay all of them, ending with the workers I hired first.’

⁹ “The workers that were hired at five o’clock came to get their pay. Each worker got one silver coin. {\cf2\super [273]}

¹⁰ Then those workers that were hired first came to get their pay. Those workers thought they would be paid more than the other workers. But each one of those workers also received one silver coin.

¹¹ When they got their silver coin, these workers complained to the man that owned the land.

¹² The workers said, ‘Those people were hired last and worked only one hour. But you paid them the same as us. And we worked hard all day in the hot sun.’

¹³ “But the man that owned the field said to one of those workers, ‘Friend, I am being fair with you. You agreed to work for one silver coin. Right?

¹⁴ So take your pay and go. I want to give the man that was hired last the same pay that I gave you.

¹⁵ I can do what I want with my own money. Are you jealous because I am good \{to those people\}?’

¹⁶ “So the people that have the last place now will have the first place in the future. And the people that have the first place now will have the last place in the future.”

¹⁷ Jesus was going to Jerusalem. His twelve followers were with him. While they were walking, Jesus gathered the followers together and spoke to them privately. Jesus said to them,

¹⁸ “We are going to Jerusalem. The Son of Man {\cf2\super [274]} will be given to the leading priests and the teachers of the law. The priests and teachers of the law will say that the Son of Man must die.

¹⁹ They will give the Son of Man to the non-Jewish people. Those people will laugh at him and beat him with whips, and then they will kill him on a cross. But on the third day after his death, he will be raised to life again.”

²⁰ Then Zebedee’s wife came to Jesus. Her sons were with her. The mother bowed before Jesus and asked him to do something for her.

²¹ Jesus said, “What do you want?”

²² So Jesus said to the sons, “You don’t understand what you are asking. Can you accept the kind of suffering that I must have {\cf2\super [275]} ?”

²³ Jesus said to them, “Truly you will suffer the same things that I will suffer. But I cannot choose the person that will sit at my right side or my left side. My Father has decided who will have those places. He has prepared those places for those people. Those places belong to them.”

²⁴ The other ten followers heard this. They became angry with the two brothers.

²⁵ Jesus called all the followers together. Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the non-Jewish people love to show their power over the people. And their important leaders love to use all their authority over the people.

²⁶ But it should not be that way with you. If one of you wants to become great, then he must serve you like a servant.

²⁷ If one of you wants to become first, then he must serve you like a slave.

²⁸ It is the same with the Son of Man. {\cf2\super [276]} The Son of Man did not come for other people to serve him. The Son of Man came to serve other people. The Son of Man came to give his life to save many people.”

²⁹ When Jesus and his followers were leaving Jericho, many, many people followed Jesus.

³⁰ There were two blind men sitting by the road. The blind men heard that Jesus was coming by. So the blind men shouted, “Lord, Son of David, {\cf2\super [277]} please help us!”

³¹ All the people criticized the blind men. They told the blind men not to speak. But the blind men shouted more and more, “Lord, Son of David, {\cf2\super [278]} please help us!”

³² Jesus stopped and said to the blind men, “What do you want me to do for you?”

³³ The blind men answered, “Lord, we want to be able to see.”

³⁴ Jesus felt sorry for the blind men. Jesus touched their eyes and they were able to see. Then the men followed Jesus.