What Does Matthew 20:11 Mean?
And when they had received it, they muttered against the master of the house.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,THE KEY
The complaint begins after the wage is in their hands: receiving what was promised does not quiet the comparison with what another receives.
THE MEANING
The reader can receive what was promised and still find attention turning toward another person’s share. Here the muttering takes shape as a charge against the one who gives, while the wage remains in hand. The verse holds both facts together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This verse undoes the belief that receiving what was agreed upon automatically quiets resentment: the workers receive the wage and still grumble over another’s share.
THE ROOT
γογγύζω
gongyzō
GROWS FROM
γογγυζ-
gongyz-
To mutter or grumble, especially in a low, dissatisfied voice.
“muttered” in this verse is gongyzō. The Greek word carries the sound of muttering, so the complaint begins as a low grumble before it becomes an accusation against the householder. English gives the action a broad label; the Greek lets you hear its quiet, simmering quality.
ALSO GROWS
gongysmos: murmuring or grumbling
γογγυσμός
This noun names the same low complaint as an ongoing expression, showing that the verse’s muttering belongs to a wider word family.
gongystēs: a grumbler or murmurer
γογγυστής
This related word describes someone marked by grumbling, connecting the sound of this moment to a recognizable posture.
THE PATTERN
Murmuring turns received provision into a complaint against the giver when another measure becomes the focus.
And the whole assembly of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.Do not murmur, as some of them also murmured, and perished by the destroyer.THE THREAD
The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.Both verses use the Greek verb γογγύζω (gongyzō), “to mutter or grumble.” In Matthew the grumbling follows a wage received; in John it follows a claim about bread from heaven, the same low complaint gathers around what the giver provides.
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