For at the beginning of this chapter demonstrates rather clearly that sometimes the chapter breaks interrupt the natural discourse units. In fact the parable Jesus tells here is meant to explain further his statement in 19.30 that “many that are first will be last, and the last first.” Some translators have tried to make this clear by starting the verse with “The reason I said that…” or “What I said can be understood in this way. The Kingdom of heaven is like….” Another way is to begin “Jesus continued by saying, ‘The Kingdom of heaven….’ ” However, most translators feel that solutions like these are not very natural, and simply drop the For.
Except for the inclusion of For, the introductory formula to this parable, the kingdom of heaven is like, is the same as in 13.31 (see also 13.24). Barclay translates “The situation in the Kingdom of Heaven is like the situation in the following story…,” Malay common language version “When God establishes his reign, the situation will be like that of a man who owns a vineyard…,” and INCL “When God reigns the situation will be as it is in this parable….”
Householder is the same noun rendered “master of the house” by Revised Standard Version in 10.25. See comment at verse 11. In this context it may be sufficient to say simply “a man” (Good News Translation), “a farmer,” or “a property owner.”
In some languages it will be necessary to say where the man went out to. From verse 3 it seems that he “went to the marketplace.”
Early in the morning (so also Good News Translation) translates an expression which probably means “at dawn”; New Jerusalem Bible has “at daybreak.” This reflects the daily circumstances of Palestine, and several commentators note a saying of the Jewish rabbis: “The working day lasts from the time that the sun appears in the sky until the time that stars appear in the sky.”
Laborers were not the regular employees of the man, but were people who hired out by the day. Translators can say “workers” or use a phrase such as “to hire men to work.”
A vineyard is a field of grapevines, but grapes and vineyards are not known in many parts of the world. Quite often translators use an expression like “a farm for grapes” or “the fields for the fruit wine comes from.” However, the fact that this is a vineyard as opposed to some other kind of farm is not really important in this parable, and if the translation of vineyard results in an awkward phrase that detracts from the flow of the story, then it will be sufficient to use a general word such as “fields” or “farm.”
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 .
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