20:5a
So: Verse 20:5a is the result of what the master said to the workers in 20:4. The Berean Standard Bible introduces this result with the conjunction So.
they went: There is some implied information here. The full sentence would be:
they went to work in the vineyard. (New Living Translation (2004))
20:5b
He went out: The verb went out here is the same verb as in 20:3a. The landowner went outside his house. He left his house and went back to the marketplace. You should translate it here as you did there.
about the sixth hour and the ninth hour: These two phrases describe specific hours after sunrise (like “the third hour” in 20:3a). So, the sixth hour corresponds to 12 o’clock noon, and the ninth hour corresponds to 3 o’clock in the afternoon.
Here are some other ways to translate these phrases:
at twelve o’clock and again at three o’clock (Good News Translation)
-or-
about noon and 3 p.m. (God’s Word)
-or-
around midday and again in the middle of the afternoon
20:5c
did the same thing: The words did the same means that the master did the same action each time. Each time that he went out, he found more workers waiting around in the marketplace. And each time he sent them also into his vineyard to work.
In some languages, it will be more natural to make some of this information explicit. For example:
Each time, he found more workers standing around in the market. And each time, he told them to go and work in his vineyard.
-or-
each time he made the same agreement with others who were loafing around with nothing to do (Contemporary English Version)
General Comment on 20:5b–c
In some languages, it will be natural to have the time phrases at the beginning of the sentence. In other languages, these phrases will be more natural at the end. For example:
About noon and about three o’clock he went out again and did the same thing.
-or-
He went out again and did the same thing at noon and at three o’clock.
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