What happens when people keep asking God for direction while refusing to obey what He has already said? https://patrickryanlewis.com/2026/08/17/ezekiel-20-when-god-confronts-a-history-of-rebellion/ Ezekiel 20 takes us through Israel’s painful history of rebellion—from Egypt, through the wilderness, and into the Promised Land. Again and again, God’s people turned toward idols and rejected His commands. Yet one phrase keeps appearing: God acted for the sake of His name. This chapter is a powerful reminder that God’s patience should never be mistaken for permission. His grace does not make sin insignificant—it should lead us to repentance. The question Ezekiel 20 leaves us with is deeply personal: Are we genuinely seeking God, or are we asking Him to approve a life we have not fully surrendered to Him? Read the new blog as we explore Ezekiel 20: When God Confronts a History of Rebellion and discover what this chapter teaches about obedience, idolatry, judgment, grace, and the faithfulness of God. #Ezekiel20 #BibleStudy #BookOfEzekiel #ChristianLiving #BiblicalTruth #Repentance #Obedience #GodsGrace #GodsFaithfulness #OldTestament #AGuyAndHisBible

In David's story, when he finally became King of Israel, the first thing he did was to bring the Ark to the city, the heart of the people of Israel. In the very next chapter, 2 Samuel 7 God makes the Davidic covenant, giving David many promises of good thing for him and his family. When you make God center of your life God has already made promises for you and your family. Things like: to be with you; to provide for your needs, peace, to forgive your sins, strength in your weakness, rest, eternal life and He will never leave you nor forsake you!

#Deuteronomy #BookOfDeuteronomy #BibleStudy #KJVBible #OldTestament #BibleHistory #BibleTimeline #BibleTeaching #Moses #Joshua #Aaron #Caleb #Israel #PromisedLand #MountNebo #PlainsOfMoab #JordanRiver #MountSinai #GodsFaithfulness #GodsPromises #Covenant #CovenantFaithfulness #Obedience #FaithOverFear #ChooseLife #LoveGod #RememberGod #BiblicalWisdom #BiblicalLessons #ChristianFaith #ChristInTheOldTestament #JesusChrist #MessianicProphecy #GreatestCommandment #BibleStudyGuide #StudyTheBible #WordOfGod #KJVScripture #ChristianLiving #FaithJourney #GodsGrace #GodsMercy #HopeInChrist #ScriptureStudy #BibleLearning #DailyBibleStudy ✝️📖🕊️

SERMON TITLE: "He Must Increase& l decrease: Am Reagan a servant & a Witness of Jesus in this Last Age" Key Texts: John 3:30, Acts 26:16, Revelation 1:1-3, Joel 2:28, Hebrews 1:2, Matthew 24:44, 1 Peter 1:15-16 INTRODUCTION Church, we are living in the last age. God is speaking again — Hebrews 1:2 — “but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” And He is still pouring out His Spirit — Joel 2:28 — “your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.” The Lord showed me 3 things( visions): Red 7 in the sky, Green 7 on the wall, and then a skeleton after they vanished. I’m not here to be called a title. I’m here for one reason: John 3:30 — “He must increase, but I must decrease.” I am a servant to feed His sheep truth. A witness to testify to what I have seen Him. And the message is for you now: Awaken. Renew. Repent. Obey. Be pure. Jesus is coming. 1. AWAKENING: HEAR THE SON-- GOD IS SPEAKING THROUGH THE SON. Revelation 1:1 — “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place.” Proverbs29:18 .. ' without visions people perish." MESSAGE of the Red 7 vision in the sky — Red speaks of blood. 7 speaks of completion. This is heaven’s warning: The blood of Jesus has finished the work, and the time is complete. Joel 2:30-31 — “wonders in heavens... before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.” God is saying: Wake up. The Judge is at the door. James 5:9 We cannot sleep in sin when heaven is writing in the sky. Romans 13:11 — “it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” 2. RENEWAL & REVIVAL: LIFE ON THE WALL Green 7 vision on the wall — Green is life, growth, restoration. The wall is God’s house, the boundary of His people. Ezekiel 22:30 — “I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach.” God is calling for renewal. Not new methods. New hearts. Psalm 51:10 — “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Ezekiel 37:4 — “Prophesy to these bones... O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.” This is revival: When God’s Word brings life back to dead places. But it only comes when we return to the Word and the Spirit. Zechariah 4:6 — “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord.” 3. REPENTANCE & OBEDIENCE: OR THE SKELETON REMAINS Skeleton vision. ,after they vanished. skeleton vision— When the warning of blood and the offer of life are ignored, what’s left is death. Ezekiel 37:11 — “These bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up.’” This is the danger of the last age: Religious, but dead. Revelation 3:1 — “You have a reputation that you are alive, but you are dead.” The answer is not more activity. It’s repentance. Acts 3:19 — “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.” John 14:23 — “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.” Obedience is proof of love. Purity is proof of waiting. 1 John 3:3 — “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” 1 Peter 1:15-16 — “As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” 4. THE WITNESS: TESTIFY OF HIM, NOT OF SELF Acts 26:16 — “I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me.” This is my calling in the last age. Not platforms. Not titles. Witnesses. Revelation 19:10 — “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Every vision, every warning, every sermon must point to Jesus. John 3:30 — “He must increase, but I must decrease.” If people leave remembering me, I failed. If they leave hungry for Jesus, I succeeded. Matthew 24:44 — “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” APPLICATION: 4 STEPS TO BE READY Awaken - Get out of spiritual sleep. Watch and pray. Mark 13:33 Renew - Ask God to revive your first love. Revelation 2:4-5 Repent + Obey - Turn from sin. Walk in the Word. James 1:22 Purify - Live holy as thy God is Holy God.

Guidelines for living. August 18th, 2026 3 Steps to Finding a New Direction. This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” But you said, “We will not walk in it.” Jeremiah 6:16 Jeremiah the prophet was a man who needs to be rediscovered today. The circumstances surrounding his life and world have so many parallels to life today. How so? Well, for one thing, instability had gripped the world. Jeremiah’s beloved nation was about to be chewed up by the powerful tiger of Babylon. Social structures were failing too. Families were being torn apart; truth and morality had been sacrificed in the process. The priesthood had become politicized. No wonder Jeremiah seemed out of sync with his day—an old prophet who castigated the moral and spiritual decline. No wonder he was publicly scorned and privately castigated. There is a text in the book which bears his name which needs to be emblazoned on the conscience of every parent: God expects more, something more of His children, than that which satisfies the world. God spoke to Jeremiah, here’s what He said, “Stand at the crossroads and look; [and] ask for the old paths, [and] ask where the good way is, and walk in it” (Jeremiah 6:16). There were three parts to that advice: First, go back to the crossroads, back to the place where you took the wrong path, and look. God is saying, “Hey, you’ve been down the wrong road. You’ve learned that it didn’t bring you the peace or contentment. Now stand there—mentally speaking—take a look down the narrow road, the one that seemed to be less exciting, and realize it was here you went wrong. Let’s stop for a moment. Is it ever too late to acknowledge that you went wrong? You may think so, but in reality, it is not. A thief on the cross, seeing his life ebb away minute by minute, came to that place; he cried out, “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He went back to the crossroads and took the right path. Before you go back to the crossroads—that fork in the road where you went wrong—you must stop what you’re doing and mentally look back. Often, we think, “It’s too late for me.” Not so, friend. Coming to the end of the year is a time for reflection and to go back if you missed the right path. Step number two in this process is this: “Ask for the old paths where the good way is.” In reality, prayer is asking. It is saying, “God, I went wrong. You know that, and now I admit it. I don’t want the future to be a rerun of the mistakes of the past. Forgive me, show me the right way to go.” Israel had missed God, and in spite of their waywardness, God promised to help them if they would only come back to Him. He said, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3). God will do the same for you as well. Step number three in this process of finding the right direction is this: When you have found the good way, “walk in it.” This is a matter of simple obedience, of putting your feet in a straight line in the direction you know God wants you to go. And with that simple step of obedience comes a great promise. God said, “you will find rest for your soul.” God did not force them, He invited them. Sadly, Israel rejected God’s invitation. Don’t do it, friend. Going back to the fork in the road requires courage and humility. Resource Reading: Jeremiah 6:1-30

Did you know? Joseph's wife was Egyptian. Almost nobody talks about her, or how controversial that actually was. Genesis chapter forty-one says the Pharaoh himself gave her to Joseph. Her name was Asenath. Her father was the priest of On, the center of Egyptian sun worship, the highest religious position in the country. family that worshipped the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, married the daughter of Egypt's top pagan priest. No conversion scene. No moment where she rejects her father's gods. Scripture never mentions any of that. She simply becomes his wife, and later, the mother of his two sons. Those two sons were Manasseh and Ephraim. Genesis chapter forty-eight records something almost nobody talks about either. Jacob personally blessed those two grandsons, placing them equal to Reuben and Simeon, his own original sons. Full inheritance. Full standing. No hesitation. Which means the bloodline of a pagan sun priest's daughter became the direct root of two entire tribes of Israel. Here's where it gets stranger. Joseph died in Egypt, generations before the Exodus ever happened. But before he died, he made his family promise something. Carry my bones out of this country when you finally leave. Genesis chapter fifty records that promise. Exodus chapter thirteen records it kept. Moses himself carried Joseph's bones out of Egypt, centuries later, exactly as promised. So the son of an Egyptian priestess didn't walk out of Egypt. Joseph bones did, carried by the very nation his sons helped build.

Let's talk about it. What if the greatest problem in our lives isn't that we have too little time for God? What if the problem is that 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲? We still pray. We still worship. We still read our Bibles. We still go to church. We still serve. But somewhere along the way, God becomes something we fit into our lives rather than the One around whom our lives are built. And Numbers 1 gives us a picture that we should not miss. When Israel was in the wilderness, God gave Moses specific instructions concerning the tabernacle. The Levites were to camp around it. And the rest of Israel was to camp according to their tribes and standards. Why? Because the tabernacle—the place representing God's dwelling among His people was at the center. Israel's camp was not randomly arranged. Their lives were literally organized around the presence of God. The Lord said: “𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘆...” (v53) Think about the picture. The tabernacle was in the middle. The Levites surrounded it. The tribes surrounded them. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗚𝗼𝗱'𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲. That was more than an arrangement of tents. It was a picture of how God's people were meant to live. God was not supposed to be somewhere on the edge of Israel's life. He was not an afterthought. He was not something they visited when they had time. 𝗛𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿. And perhaps that is where we need to stop and look at our own lives. Because whatever sits at the center of your life will eventually determine the direction of everything around it. If comfort is at the center, your decisions will revolve around comfort. If money is at the center, your life will revolve around gaining and protecting it. If approval is at the center, your peace will depend on what people think of you. If success is at the center, your worth will rise and fall with your achievements. Even ministry can become the center. Even family can become the center. Even good things can take the place that belongs to God. When God is no longer at the center, everything else slowly begins to take a place it was never meant to occupy. Israel's arrangement in Numbers reminds us of something we often forget: God was not meant to be placed somewhere within the arrangement of our lives. He is meant to be the center around which our entire lives are ordered. But here's where the gospel becomes beautiful. God didn't merely tell Israel to arrange their camp around His presence. 𝗛𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺. And then, centuries later, something even greater happened. John 1:14 says: “𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗹𝗲𝘀𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝘄𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝘀.” The God who dwelt among Israel in the tabernacle came near to us in Jesus. Christ entered our wilderness. He came into our brokenness. He came into our disorder. And He came not merely to become part of our lives, but to become the center of them. God can be in our lives without being at the center of our lives. You can give Him an hour on Sabbath and still organize the rest of your week around yourself. You can pray to Him and still make every major decision without Him. You can serve Him and still build your identity around something else. You can carry His Word and still arrange your life around your own desires. So today, don't simply ask: “Where is God in my life?” Ask: “What is my life arranged around?” What sits at the center? What determines my priorities? What controls my decisions? What gives me my sense of worth? Because whatever is at the center will eventually shape everything around it. Israel had a center. And that center was the dwelling place of God. We have Christ. So let Him be more than a part of your life. Let Him be the One your life revolves around. Not in the background. Not on the edge. Not when you have time. 𝗔𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿. Because when Christ is at the center, everything else can finally find its proper place.

Daily Bible Lesson. THE HIDDEN POWER OF SALT IN THE BIBLE: WHY GOD USED SALT SO OFTEN Have you ever wondered why salt appears over and over again in the Bible? It was never just a seasoning. From Genesis to the New Testament, salt carried deep spiritual meaning. It represented purity, preservation, faithfulness, covenant, wisdom, and even judgment. Let's explore what God was teaching through salt. 1. ELISHA USED SALT TO HEAL THE WATERS OF JERICHO 📖 2 Kings 2:19–22 After Elijah was taken to heaven, Elisha arrived in Jericho. The people said: «"The city is pleasant, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive."» God instructed Elisha: «"Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it."» Elisha threw the salt into the spring and declared: «"Thus says the LORD, 'I have healed these waters; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from them.'" (2 Kings 2:21)» Immediately the waters became pure. Notice something important. The miracle was not in the salt. The salt was simply an act of obedience through which God demonstrated His power. Spiritual meaning: God can cleanse what sin has poisoned. He can restore what seemed permanently ruined. When God speaks, even bitter waters become life-giving. 2. EVERY GRAIN OFFERING HAD TO INCLUDE SALT 📖 Leviticus 2:13 God commanded Israel: «"Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings."» Why? Because salt preserves. It resists corruption. It symbolized that Israel's worship should never become spiritually corrupt. Spiritual meaning: God desires worship that remains pure, faithful, and sincere. Our devotion should not spoil with compromise. 3. GOD ESTABLISHED A "COVENANT OF SALT" 📖 Numbers 18:19 God told Aaron: «"It is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD."» Again in: 📖 2 Chronicles 13:5 God declared that He gave David the kingdom by a covenant of salt forever. In the ancient world, salt was valuable and enduring. A covenant sealed with salt symbolized permanence, loyalty, and faithfulness. Spiritual meaning: God does not abandon His promises. What He establishes, He is faithful to keep. 4. JESUS CALLED BELIEVERS "THE SALT OF THE EARTH" 📖 Matthew 5:13 Jesus said: «"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?"» Salt preserves food from decay. Likewise, believers are called to preserve truth in a corrupt world. We are meant to influence the world—not be influenced by it. Spiritual meaning: Christians should slow the spread of moral decay by living holy lives, speaking truth, and reflecting Christ's character. 5. JESUS SAID TO HAVE SALT IN YOURSELVES 📖 Mark 9:50 Jesus taught: «"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness... Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another."» This points to inward spiritual character. Spiritual meaning: God desires hearts marked by wisdom, humility, holiness, and peace. 6. PAUL COMPARED OUR WORDS TO SALT 📖 Colossians 4:6 Paul wrote: «"Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt."» Our words should preserve life, bring wisdom, and point people toward Christ. Instead of spreading bitterness, believers should speak words that heal, encourage, and build others up. 7. SALT WAS ALSO A SIGN OF JUDGMENT The Bible also uses salt to represent desolation when people reject God. After the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: 📖 Genesis 19:26 Lot's wife looked back in disobedience and became a pillar of salt. Her story stands as a warning against longing for the sinful life God has called us to leave behind. Later, Scripture describes lands under God's judgment as barren and covered with salt. 📖 Deuteronomy 29:23 📖 Judges 9:45 These passages show that the same symbol could represent either blessing or judgment, depending on humanity's response to God. WHAT DOES SALT REPRESENT IN THE BIBLE? Salt symbolizes: • Purity • Preservation • Faithfulness • God's everlasting covenant • Holiness • Wisdom • Gracious speech • Healing through God's power • A warning against corruption and disobedience THE GREATEST LESSON Salt itself has no supernatural power. The Bible never teaches that salt possesses mystical or magical abilities. Whenever God used salt, it was because He chose it as a symbol or as part of an act of obedience. The power was always God's—not the salt. Today, God still heals bitter lives. He restores broken families. He renews weary hearts. He preserves those who remain faithful to Him. The same God who healed the waters of Jericho is still able to transform what seems impossible.

Conflict and Courage Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. Psalm 68:31. Throughout his ministry Isaiah bore a plain testimony concerning God's purpose for the heathen. Other prophets had made mention of the divine plan, but their language was not always understood. To Isaiah it was given to make very plain to Judah the truth that among the Israel of God were to be numbered many who were not descendants of Abraham after the flesh. This teaching was not in harmony with the theology of his age, yet he fearlessly proclaimed the messages given him of God and brought hope to many a longing heart reaching out after the spiritual blessings promised to the seed of Abraham.... Often the Israelites seemed unable or unwilling to understand God's purpose for the heathen. Yet it was this very purpose that had made them a separate people and had established them as an independent nation among the nations of the earth. Abraham, their father, to whom the covenant promise was first given, had been called to go forth from his kindred, to the regions beyond, that he might be a light bearer to the heathen. Although the promise to him included a posterity as numerous as the sand by the sea, yet it was for no selfish purpose that he was to become the founder of a great nation.... “I will bless thee,” Jehovah declared, “and make thy name great; ... in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” ... No distinction on account of nationality, race, or caste, is recognized by God.... Christ came to demolish every wall of partition, to throw open every compartment of the temple courts, that every soul may have free access to God. His love is so broad, so deep, so full, that it penetrates everywhere. It lifts out of Satan's influence those who have been deluded by his deceptions, and places them within reach of the throne of God, the throne encircled by the rainbow of promise. In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free.26Ibid., 367-370.

Matthew 20:1-16 And Jesus continues with the lesson of the first being the last with this parable. A landowner is the comparison this time. The Kingdom of God is like a landowner seeking employees in the early morning. He hires them for a denarius for the day. This was the typical amount for a day's wages for a laborer so this wouldn't have been unusual. The unusual bit would come later. But then Jesus adds to the story that this owner then returns to the market another 4 times to hire workers for the same amount he paid workers for all day. And at the end of the day this landowner lines up those he hired and begins paying them by starting with the latest hired and chosing to pay all workers a full day's wage. Now Jesus did this as part of a lesson, explaining that those who worked and bore the heat of the day would complain. But the truth is a denarius was a fair wage for the period of a full day. And the owner was well within his rights to pay what he wished. The idea was that what was given was the same reward whether one came early or one came late. The big picture is Jesus is making it clear that the reward of eternal life goes to even those who show up late. In context, Jesus is saying that the Kingdom is going to be open to the groups the nation of Israel considered beneath them and as a result would be jealous of those who are brought into the kingdom even if they were not brought in from the beginning as Israel was. Even today, non messianic Jews are extremely jealous in defending their position before God as His original people and cannot grasp that from 70 AD to current times there's been no temple at which to offer sacrifice. No real Aaronic priesthood either. The thought of anyone entering into God's kingdom apart from the nation of Israel is repugnant to them, let alone the idea someone would be entering before them. And some of the apostles really continued to struggle with this concept of Gentiles being welcomed into God's Kingdom. Especially Peter, who was part of the problem that became known as the first great heresy of the church. It took the Apostle Paul to correct him. So the Catholic notion of an infallible Peter is entirely fictional. It took 2 consecutive visions from God to get Peter off his butt to go speak with Cornelius. Even then, Peter hesitated to share the gospel with a Gentile. And even after this, Peter shares in the heresy and even Barnabas is carried away. Jesus is using the national pride of Israel against them. He knows their jealousy regarding others who joined the Kingdom. The first century Jews were zealous for their nation while at the same time having what they considered good reasons to despise other nations. The faithful Jews who did receive Jesus heard Him when He taught that ALL nations would be blessed with the gift of being able to turn to Him and believe. They heard him. And this was one of the great failures of Peter and some of the other believers. On the day of judgment, the faithful witnesses will be standing behind the believers of today for their reward. Not because we earned it, but because God has mercy. Jesus is the prophet foretold by Moses. Deuteronomy 18:15-19 [15] “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen; to him you shall listen. [16] This is in accordance with everything that you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Do not let me hear the voice of the Lord my God again, and do not let me see this great fire anymore, or I will die!’ [17] And the Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. [18] I will raise up for them a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them everything that I command him. [19] And it shall come about that whoever does not listen to My words which he speaks in My name, I Myself will require it of him. Moses knew the Messiah would be rejected and God says if any Israelite does not listen to Him, God would require their punishment and they will be utterly cut off from the people of God. Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we are the new Israel. We are the saints, we are the last who became first. We are not better than the Jews, we are not worse off. We are saved by grace through faith. We should with our very last breath be sharing the gospel with everyone. [1] “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. [2] When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. [3] And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace; [4] and to those he said, ‘You go into the vineyard also, and whatever is right, I will give you.’ And so they went. [5] Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. [6] And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he *said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ [7] They *said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He *said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ [8] “Now when evening came, the owner of the vineyard *said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, starting with the last group to the first.’ [9] When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. [10] And so when those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. [11] When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, [12] saying, ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day’s work and the scorching heat.’ [13] But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? [14] Take what is yours and go; but I want to give to this last person the same as to you. [15] Is it not lawful for me to do what I want with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ [16] So the last shall be first, and the first, last.”