About the sixth hour (see Matthew 20.3) is translated “at twelve o’clock” by Good News Translation, and the ninth hour is rendered “at three o’clock.” Most translations follow the same pattern for expressing time in this verse that they do in verse 3.

It may be more natural to state the times at the end of the sentence, as in “He did the same thing at twelve o’clock and at three o’clock.”

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 .