And about the eleventh hour is translated “It was nearly five o’clock” by Good News Translation. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch specifies that this was the last time that the man went to the market to secure workers: “But about five o’clock when he went to the market for the last time….”

Standing: see Matthew 20.3.

Why do you stand here idle all day?: the question expresses rebuke rather than surprise. Good News Translation indicates this with the phrase “wasting the whole day.” In other languages the rebuke can be conveyed with a statement and a question: “You have been idle all day. Is that good? (or, Why have you done that?)”

Idle: see comments on Matthew 20.3.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .