Bible Strands
Matthew 20:14
Take your pay and go. I want to give this last man the same as I gave you.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The master speaks to one of the first-hour vineyard workers immediately after justifying his payment to the last-hired laborers. He commands the worker to collect his agreed denarius and leave the vineyard.
The words — ἆρον (aron) functions as an imperative meaning "take [up/hold]," and θέλω (thelō) states "I desire" or "I want." These verbs frame the master's command alongside his sovereign intention.
The thread — The text's assertion of distributive authority appears in John 17:2, where the Father grants the Son authority over all people to give eternal life to those given to Him. It also echoes Luke 15:31, where the father declares all his property already belongs to the returning son.
Why it lands — The passage first states that the employer retains full rights over his own funds and chooses to extend equal pay to the latecomer. It then requires the reader to abandon merit-based expectations and accept that generosity operates independently of human calculations of fairness.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.
Cross-references
- John 17:2 For You granted Him authority over all people, so that He may give eternal life to all those You have given Him.
- Luke 15:31 ‘Son, you are always with me,’ the father said, ‘and all that is mine is yours.
- 2 Kings 10:30 Nevertheless, the LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in My sight and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.”
- Ezekiel 29:18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre. Every head was made bald and every shoulder made raw. But he and his army received no wages from Tyre for the labor they expended on it.
- Matthew 6:2 So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
- Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
- Matthew 6:16 When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
- Romans 3:4 Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that You may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge.”
- Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
- 2 Kings 10:16 saying, “Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD!” So he had him ride in his chariot.