Matthew 20:16

Matthew 20:16 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
• New International Version (NIV)“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
• English Standard Version (ESV)So the last will be first, and the first last."
• New King James Version (NKJV)So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.”

Context of Matthew 20:16

14Take your money and go home. I choose to give this last man the same amount of money as I gave to you. 15It is my money. I can choose what to do with it. I want to be kind to people and give them more than we agreed. Does that make you upset?” ’ Jesus then said, ‘So, one day, those people who are not important now will become the most important. Those people who are very important now will become the least important.’ 17Jesus and his disciples were going towards Jerusalem. As they walked along, Jesus took his 12 disciples away from the other people where he could speak to them alone. 18‘Listen!’ he said to them. ‘We are going to Jerusalem. There, someone will deliver the Son of Man to the leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law. These Jewish leaders will decide that I must die.

Matthew 20:16 word by word

οὕτως ἔσονται οἱ ἔσχατοι πρῶτοι καὶ οἱ πρῶτοι ἔσχατοιRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Soοὕτωςhoutō · thus(-ly)G3779
• the lastἔσχατοςeschatos · last/leastG2078
• shall beεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• firstπρῶτοςprōtos · firstG4413
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• forγάρgar · forG1063
• manyπολύςpolus polos · muchG4183
• calledκλητόςklētos · calledG2822
• butδέde · thenG1161
• fewὀλίγοςoligos · little/fewG3641
• chosenἐκλεκτόςeklektos · selectG1588

Cross-references for Matthew 20:16

• Matthew 8:11I tell you, many people will come from all over the world to take their place in the kingdom of heaven. There they will sit down to eat with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
• Matthew 19:30But many people who are very important now will become the least important. And many people who are not important now will become very important then.’
• Matthew 21:31Tell me, which of the man's sons did what his father wanted?’ The Jewish leaders replied, ‘The older son did what his father wanted.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you this: The men who take taxes from people are going into the kingdom of God before you. It is the same with prostitutes. They also are going into the kingdom of God before you.
• Mark 10:31But many people who are very important now will not be important then. And people who are not important now will become very important then.’
• Luke 7:47So I tell you, this woman has done many bad things. But I have forgiven her. She loves me a lot, because I have forgiven her for many bad things. If I only forgive someone a little, that person only loves me a little.’
• Luke 13:28Then you will weep very much because you are standing outside. You will bite your teeth together. You will see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the place where God rules. You will also see all God's prophets there. But God will shut you outside.
• Luke 15:7When one person stops doing wrong things, it is like that. It makes those that live with God in heaven very happy. They will be happier about that one person, than about 99 people who already obey God.’
• Luke 17:17Then Jesus said, ‘I made ten men well again, didn't I? There should be another nine men somewhere!
• John 12:19So the Pharisees said to each other, ‘This is not what we wanted. Look! All the people in the world have left us to go with him!’
• Romans 5:20God gave his Law to Moses to show more clearly that people were doing wrong things. But when people did more and more wrong things, God continued to be kind in more and more ways.
• Romans 9:30So, we must think about what all this means. The Gentiles were not trying to become right with God. But some of them have now become right with him. God has accepted them as right, because they have believed in Jesus Christ.
• Matthew 7:13‘Go in through the narrow gate to get true life with God. There is a wide gate that is easy to go through. The wide path is easy to travel on. Many people find that wide gate, but it is the way to hell.
• Matthew 22:14God asks many people to come to him. But he only chooses a few people to be there with him.’
• Luke 14:24But I tell you this. None of the people that I asked at the beginning will eat any of my food.” ’
• Romans 8:30God had already chosen those people to be his children. Because of that, he called them to come to him. He accepted those people as right with himself. And those that he accepted, he also caused them to become great.
• 1 Thessalonians 2:13There is another reason why we always continue to thank God for you. When we told God's message to you, you knew that it was not human ideas. You accepted it as God's own message, and that is what it certainly is. You continue to grow as believers because of God's message that you heard.

Commentaries on Matthew 20:16

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16So the last shall be first, and the first last - The Gentiles, who have been long without the true God, shall now enjoy all the privileges of the new covenant; and the Jews, who have enjoyed these from the beginning, shall now be dispossessed of them; for, because they here rejected the Lord, he also hath rejected them. Many are called, etc. - This clause is wanting in BL, one other, and in the Coptic and Sahidic versions. Bishop Pearce thinks it is an…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16So the last shall be first … - This is the moral or scope of the parable. “To teach this it was spoken.” Many that, in the order of time, are brought last into the kingdom, shall be first in the rewards. Higher proportionate rewards shall be given to them than to others. “To all justice shall be done.” To all to whom the rewards of heaven are promised they shall be given. Nothing shall be withheld that was promised. If, among this number who are called…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16See Matthew 5:19 and Matthew 8:11–12.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1616. So the last shall be first, and the first last--that is, "Take heed lest by indulging the spirit of these murmurers at the penny given to the last hired, ye miss your own penny, though first in the vineyard; while the consciousness of having come in so late may inspire these last with such a humble frame, and such admiration of the grace that has hired and rewarded them at all, as will put them into the foremost place in the end." for many be called…Read the comment

Topics related to Matthew 20:16

• Chosen, or Elected
• Contracts
• Gospel
• Jesus Continued
• Jesus, the Christ
• Kingdom of Heaven
• Predestination
• Reward
• Vineyard
• Wicked (People)

In the dictionaries

• Agree
• Choose
• Chosen
• Condemn
• Drink
• Idle
• Prepare
• Ransom
• Wrong
• Bible, the

Commentaries on Matthew 20

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Catena Aurea
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• John Lightfoot Commentary
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings