1 “In this regard, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a master of a household who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 Now after agreeing to pay the workers the standard wage for a day’s work, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 When he went out again at about nine in the morning, he saw others standing in the market area doing nothing. 4 And to those men he said, ‘ᵖYou, too, go into my vineyard, and whatever is right, that’s what I’ll pay you.’ 5 So off they went. When the man went out again at about noon and then at three, he did the same thing.

6 “It was nearly five in the afternoon when the man went out again and found still others standing around. ‘Why,’ he asked them, ‘have you been standing here all day doing nothing?’

7 “ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they replied.

“ ‘ᵖYou, too, go into my vineyard,’ he said to them.

8 “Now when it was evening, the master of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with those hired last and ending with those hired first.’ 9 When the men hired at about five in the afternoon came, they each received a standard day’s wage. 10 So when those hired first came, they assumed they would receive more, but they, too, themselves each received the standard wage. 11 Well, on receiving their pay, they began to grumble against the master of the household. 12 ‘These fellows who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they complained, ‘and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us, who endured the brunt of the day and the sweltering heat!’

13 “The master of the vineyard replied, then, to one of them, ‘Friend, I am not doing you any wrong. The standard wage was what we agreed on, wasn’t it? 14 Take what is yours and be on your way. I want to give the same amount I gave you to this man who was hired last. 15 I am allowed to do with my own money whatever I want, am I not? Or are you full of greed and selfishness because I for my part am generous?’

16 “And so it is that those who now are last will at that time be first, and those who are now first will at that time be last.”

17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside privately, and on the way said to them, 18 “Listen, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and Torah-experts; they will condemn him to death 19 and then hand him over to the Gentiles for them to mock and flog and crucify. On the third day, however, he will be raised to life.”

20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came up to Jesus with her sons, kneeling down and requesting something from him.

21 “What would ˢyou like me to do?” he asked her.

“Please declare that these two sons of mine will sit beside you, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your Kingdom,” she said to him.

22 “ᵖYou two have no idea what you’re asking,” Jesus said in response. “Are you able to drink the cup of suffering that I myself am destined to drink?”

“We are able,” they replied.

23 “My cup ᵖyou will indeed drink,” he told them. “To sit at my right hand and my left, however, is not for me to grant. No, these places will go to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

24 When the other ten disciples heard about this, they were outraged at the two brothers. 25 Jesus, then, after calling them over to himself, said, “ᵖYou disciples know that the rulers over the Gentiles dominate their subjects, and that their high-ranking leaders wield authority over the people like tyrants. 26 This is precisely how it must not be among you. No, if someone desires to become great among you, he must be ᵖyour servant, 27 and if someone desires to be first among you, he must be ᵖyour slave— 28 just as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and give up his life as a payment for+ ‘many’+ to release them from slavery.”

29 As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed them. 30 Well, sitting beside the road were two blind men. When they learned that it was Jesus who was passing by, they shouted, “Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David!” 31 The crowd warned the men to be quiet, but they shouted even louder, “Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David!”

32 Jesus stopped and called them over to himself. “What would ᵖyou like me to do for you?” he asked.

33 “Lord,” they said to him, “we want our eyes to be opened.” 34 Jesus’ heart went out to the men, and he touched their eyes. And instantly they received their sight! Then the two men followed along with Jesus.