Bible Verses About Parables

Kefa said to him, "Explain the parable to us."

Because of this, the Kingdom of Heaven may be compared with a king who decided to settle accounts with his deputies.

Right away they brought forward a man who owed him many millions;

and since he couldn't pay, his master ordered that he, his wife, his children and all his possessions be sold to pay the debt.

But the servant fell down before him. `Be patient with me,' he begged, `and I will pay back everything.'

So out of pity for him, the master let him go and forgave the debt.

"But as that servant was leaving, he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him some tiny sum. He grabbed him and began to choke him, crying, `Pay back what you owe me!'

His fellow servant fell before him and begged, `Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'

But he refused; instead, he had him thrown in jail until he should repay the debt.

When the other servants saw what had happened, they were extremely distressed; and they went and told their master every thing that had taken place.

Then the master summoned his servant and said, `You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt just because you begged me to do it.

Shouldn't you have had pity on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'

And in anger his master turned him over to the jailers for punishment until he paid back everything he owed.

This is how my heavenly Father will treat you, unless you each forgive your brother from your hearts."

"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who went out at daybreak to hire workers for his vineyard.

After agreeing with the workers on a wage of one denarius, [the standard daily wage,] he sent them off to his vineyard.

Then, on going out at about nine in the morning, he saw more men standing around in the market-square doing nothing,

and said to them, `You go to the vineyard too -- I'll pay you a fair wage.' So they went.

At noon, and again around three in the afternoon, he did the same thing.

About an hour before sundown, he went out, found still others standing around, and asked them, `Why have you been standing here all day, doing nothing?"

They said to him, `Because no one hired us.' `You too,' he told them, `go to the vineyard.'

"When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, `Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last ones hired and ending with the first.'

The workers who came an hour before sunset each received a denarius,

so the workers who came first expected they would get more, but each of them also received just a denarius.

On receiving their wages, they began grumbling to the farmer,