Bible Strands
Matthew 20:6
About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ he asked.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The vineyard owner addresses day laborers he encounters near the end of the workday, asking why they have remained idle since morning. This exchange occurs during the parable’s narrative sequence, immediately after his visits at the sixth and ninth hours.
The words — ἑνδεκάτην (hendekatēn) means “eleventh,” specifying the eleventh hour of the Jewish workday. ἐξελθὼν (exelthōn) is a participle meaning “having gone out,” emphasizing the owner’s deliberate movement to find workers.
The thread — The parable’s labor motif connects to Jesus’ urgency in John 9:4 regarding the coming night, and parallels the exhortation in Hebrews 6:12 against spiritual sluggishness. Both passages treat unspent time as a loss of opportunity rather than mere inactivity.
Why it lands — The text demands immediate accounting for unworked hours and rejects self-justification for remaining idle. It requires the reader to recognize that opportunity for labor or service closes regardless of personal circumstance.
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
And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
Cross-references
- John 9:4 While it is daytime, we must do the works of Him who sent Me. Night is coming, when no one can work.
- Acts 17:21 Now all the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing more than hearing and articulating new ideas.
- Hebrews 6:12 Then you will not be sluggish, but will imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
- Proverbs 19:15 Laziness brings on deep sleep, and an idle soul will suffer hunger.
- Luke 23:40 But the other one rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same judgment?
- Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.
- Ezekiel 16:49 Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and complacent; they did not help the poor and needy.