For those who want to know what Jesus really said, how he said it, why crowds came to hear him, and shades of meaning lost or hidden in translation.

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Today's Verse Analysis

A parable after saying that first is last and last is first.

Spoken to
Apostles
KJV Verse

Matthew 20:1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.

NIV Verse:

Matthew 20:1 For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.

What His Listeners Heard:

Because the realm of the skies is similar to a man, a housemaster, who went out at once early  to hire workmen for that vineyard  of his.

Lost In Translation:

As with most of Jesus's parables, the language here is very straightforward. When he starts telling a story,  his wordplay often goes away. The Greek is simple and he tends to repeat concepts, such as "man" and "householder" here, to clarify his meaning. Some ancient Greek manuscripts do not show the "a man". Of course, the statement creates a question in people's mind. How does this man relate to the kingdom?

There are two uncommon words here and both have a sense of "early". They are translated as "early" and "in the morning." However, the first word has more the sense of "at once." Neither related for the Greek word from "morning."

KJV w/Translation Issues :

For the kingdom of (MW) heaven(WN) is like unto a man [that is(IP)] an householder, which went out early(CW) [in the morning(CW)] to hire labourers into his (CW) vineyard.

KJV List (See full page for word-by-word analysis):
For analysis of each word of original Greek and biblical verses, click here.

Constantly Updated

My analysis standards and methods are constantly improving. New information on each verse is provided as articles are updated. It requires approximately two years for me to work through updating each of Jesus's verses.

What Jesus's Listeners Heard

The everyday meanings of the Greek words Jesus used were different than the definitions they have been given over time in biblical translation. The word translations here are based upon documents of his time such as the Greek Septuagint, not ideas unknown in his time.

About this Site

See what Jesus said in Greek and see how his words are changed in English translation. My goal is to translate Jesus's words as they were heard when he taught, not the way they are interpreted today. The work here resurrects the humor and cleverness of Jesus's words lost in translation.

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Each article provides detailed information on all the Greek words in each verse with links simplifying your own research. It compares the Greek to popular translations to show where words are confused, changed, left out, and added. This site offers research available nowhere else, such as how often Jesus uses a specific Greek word and links to a list of every verse in which he uses a given word.