What Does Matthew 20:7 Mean in the King James?
They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse separates an absence of opportunity from a refusal to work.
THE MEANING
Your waiting is not proof that you were unwilling: the workers say no one hired them, and the invitation still reaches them while there is time to work. What is right for them remains something they receive, even after being left waiting.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Waiting does not always mean I refused the call or missed my chance.
THE ROOT
ἐμισθώσατο
emisthōsato
GROWS FROM
μισθ-
misth-
Wages or payment for work; the word family of hiring and a worker’s wage.
The workers name a specific absence: no one hired them. The word belongs to the same wage family as the words for wages and hired workers, keeping their waiting distinct from a choice to refuse work.
ALSO GROWS
misthos: wage, reward
μισθός
The shared family links being hired with the wages associated with work.
misthōtos: hired worker
μισθωτός
This branch names the worker through the same act of hiring that has not happened to these men.
δίκαιον
dikaion
GROWS FROM
δικ-
dik-
What is just or right.
The promise is not an unspecified outcome: they will receive what is just. This word belongs to the family that includes δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosynē, justice/alignment), adding the sense of an outcome in alignment with what is right.
ALSO GROWS
dikaios: just, aligned
δίκαιος
This branch describes a person or thing as standing in what is just.
dikaiosynē: justice, alignment
δικαιοσύνη
This branch makes the family’s connection between what is right and alignment visible.
THE PATTERN
Being outside the opening does not place someone beyond an invitation that can still reach them.
And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither.Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.THE THREAD
And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.The Greek μισθόω (misthoō, hire for wages) in Matthew belongs to the same word family as μισθός (misthos, wage) in Luke’s phrase “worthy of his hire.” The shared root ties the late invitation to provision: these workers enter the vineyard with a promise of what is right.
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