complete verse (Matthew 20:5)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 20:5:

  • Uma: “At midday he went also/again hunting for people, he said to them: ‘Go work in my field.’ So also at three o’clock in the afternoon.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Then they went. When it was noon, he went again to look for people to work on his land. He also did like that when it was three o’clock in the afternoon.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And they worked. And when the sun reached the zenith then, this man returned again to the market. He did the same thing when the sun went half-way down.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “And they went to join-in-working. ‘At twelve o’clock and likewise also at three o’clock, that land owner did the same thing.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Those ones he spoke to then went.Well, right at noon and mid afternoon, that owner did like that again.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The field-owner went again to the market at noon. He found some more people who were not working. Again he sent them to work in his field.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

The Late-Arriving Workers

Following is a 1973 painting of the JESUS MAFA project, a response to New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings was selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings:

From Art in the Christian Tradition , a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. Image retrieved March 23, 2026. Original source: librairie-emmanuel.fr.

Translation commentary on Matthew 20:5

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Matthew 20:5



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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