vineyard

The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “vineyard” in English is translated in Noongar as boodjer-djildjiyang, lit. “land for fruit.” (Source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).

See also vine.

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.

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Matt. 20:7)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (excluding the landowner).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (Matthew 20:7)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 20:7:

  • Uma: “‘They answered him: ‘Because there is no-one who is causing-us-to-work.’ The owner of the field said: ‘If thus, go work in my field.’ They went too.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “They said, ‘Because nobody has got us for work.’ ‘Na, go also and work on my land,’ he said.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And they answered, ‘Because nobody has put us to work.’ And the man said, ‘Work in my grapefield.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “”There was no one to hire-us (excl.) -by-the-day (expression of self-defense),’ they said in reply. ”OK,’ said the land owner in-reply, ‘go also join-in-working in my vineyard.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “‘Nobody hired us to work,’ was their answer. ‘Well if it’s like that,’ said that owner, ‘you also go there to my plantation and you work there too.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Those said: ‘We spent the day here because no one told us to work for them,’ they said. The field-owner then said: ‘Go to my work then. I will pay you what is proper for you to earn.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Mairasi: “These people said to him: ‘Because there were no people who would pay us wages that’s why we did not do any work’ they say. The farm owner said to them: ‘If that’s the way it is, then you guys go to my grape farm [and] do [some] work’ says he.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Matthew 20:7

For stylistic reasons They said to him is translated “they answered” by Good News Translation and placed after the quotation. Languages will vary regarding what arrangement is more effective. Also for stylistic reasons Good News Translation and Bible en français courant introduce “Well, then” into the speaker’s remarks as a transitional.

Hired us may need to be expanded to “hired us to work.”

Go is translated “go and work” by Good News Translation (also Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and Bible en français courant). Many languages may even require an explicit indication of the nature of the work that the men were sent to do in the vineyard. But see comments at Matthew 20.2.

Too here is used as in Matthew 20.4. Good News Translation has not translated it explicitly here in verse 7.

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 20:7



20:7a

Because no one has hired us: Some words from 20:6c are implied but not repeated here. In some languages, it may be more natural to include these implied words. For example:

⌊We
(excl.) are standing idle⌋ because no one has hired us

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

No one has hired us (God’s Word)
-or-
No one gave us a job. (New Century Version)
-or-
No one gave us work to do.

has hired us: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as has hired also occurs in 20:1b. Translate it here in a similar way. For example:

gave us work
-or-
told us to work

they answered: Verse 20:7a is the workers’ answer to the master’s question. So here is another way to translate this clause that puts the clause at the beginning of the verse, as in the Greek:

They answered him

20:7b

You also go into my vineyard: This is the same exact clause as in 20:4a. Translate it the same way in both places.

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