complete verse (Matthew 20:9)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 20:9:

  • Uma: “‘The people who worked beginning at five in the afternoon came, they each received wages of one silver coin.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Then the people who had been fetched in the afternoon went there and they were paid wages worth for a whole day.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And those who had started to work when the sun was about to set, he paid each one of them a piece of silver.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘So then the ones who began to work at five o’clock came, and they were salaried one-denario -each.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “As for those who were put to work when the sun was getting low, what was paid to them was the (usual) wage for a whole day’s work.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Wages were given to the workers who had begun working at five o’clock. Each one was given a money of a denario.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Mairasi: “And then the people of the afternoon, who worked at strike five [five o’clock], came. And then they themselves each received money called a dinar as their wage.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)

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 20:9

Eleventh hour should be translated the same as it was in verse 6, although if translators used “about” in the translation, as in “about five o’clock,” then that word will probably be inappropriate in this verse.

Many translators will follow Good News Translation and expand came to “came to be paid” or “came to receive their wages.”

For denarius see comment at Matthew 20.2. Barclay has “a normal full day’s wage.”

Received is formulated as a passive in Good News Translation: “were paid.” Some languages will require a complete restructuring of the sentence; for example, “So the foreman paid a silver coin to each of the men who had begun to work at five o’clock in the afternoon” or “… paid the full day’s wages to each of the men….”

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 20:9



20:9a

In 20:9 the foreman began to carry out his master’s orders. In some languages, it will be natural to begin this verse with a conjunction such as “So” or “Then.” In other languages, no conjunction is necessary here. You should connect 20:8 to 20:9 in a way that is natural in your language.

workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came: As in 20:6a, the phrase the eleventh hour refers to eleven hours after sunrise. It was about five o’clock in the afternoon. Translate the time here in the same way you did there.

These were the very last people hired. They had worked only about an hour before the workday was over. The verb came means that they responded to the foreman’s call and came to be paid.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

when those men hired about five o’clock came
-or-
Those who had started work an hour before sunset came forward (Revised English Bible)
-or-
Those who started working about 5 p.m. came (God’s Word)

20:9b

each: This word indicates that there was more than one worker. Each of the workers received the same wage.

Here is another way to translate this phrase:

and each man (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

received a denarius: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as denarius also occurs in 20:2a. You should translate it the same way in both places. For example:

received one denarius

-or-

received one coin

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