New Testament · Gospel

Matthew 20:11

The Last Will Be First

On receiving their pay, they began to grumble against the landowner. Matthew 20:11 · Berean Standard Bible
What It Means

Matthew 20:11, in plain English

The workers who started at dawn begin to grumble against the landowner.

Why it's here

They're not actually worse off — they got exactly what they agreed to. But someone else's blessing feels like their loss.

Who's speaking

The narrator captures a very human reaction — comparing yourself to others.

Where it sits in the story

They didn't lose anything. They just couldn't stand that someone else got the same thing without earning it.

A Closer Look

The scholarly reading

The first workers begin grumbling (egongyzon) against the landowner — the verb echoes Israel's murmuring against God in the wilderness (LXX of Exodus 16).

Language and setting

The allusion to wilderness murmuring connects their complaint to Israel's pattern of questioning God's provision and justice.

Voice

The narrator describes the early workers' discontent with the owner's generosity.

Significance

The first workers' grumbling mirrors Israel's ancient complaints against God — dissatisfaction with divine generosity that doesn't match human expectations.

In context

Matthew 20:9–13

9The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius.

10So when the original workers came, they assumed they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarius.

11On receiving their pay, they began to grumble against the landowner.

12‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’

13But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Did you not agree with me on one denarius?

Read all of Matthew 20 — Workers hired at day's end receive the same wage as those who sweated since dawn. God's generosity offends our scorekeeping instincts.

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