Matthew 20:6

περὶ δὲ τὴν ἑνδεκ.: the δὲ marks this final procedure as noteworthy. We begin to wonder at all this hiring, when we see it going on even at the last hour. Is the master a humorist hiring out of benevolence rather than from regard to the exigencies of the work? Some have thought so (Olshausen, Goebel, Koetsveld), and there seems good ground for the suggestion, though even this unusual procedure may be made to appear probable by conceiving the master as anxious to finish the work on hand that day, in which case even an hour's work from a sufficient number of willing hands may be of value. τί ὧδε ἑστήκατε, etc., why stand ye here (ἑστήκ., perfect active, neuter in sense, and used as a present) all the day idle? The question answers itself: no man would stand all the day in the market-place idle unless because he wanted work and could not get it.