The text has saying. Whether translators have “grumbled by saying,” or start a new sentence with “They said,” or retain saying will depend on the receptor language.

These last worked only one hour: commentators note that the laborers are so indignant that they omit any form of polite address when making accusations against their employer. This is in contrast to the polite form of address used by their employer in verse 13. These last is translated “These men who were hired last” by Good News Translation; New Jerusalem Bible and Barclay have “The men who came last,” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “The others who came last,” and New English Bible “These latecomers.”

Only one hour (so also Good News Translation) is literally “one hour,” but English requires the use of only or of some equivalent form in order to make the comparison.

And you have made them equal to us: the equalization is that of wages, which may be rendered “yet you paid them the same as you paid us!” (Good News Translation) and “and you have treated them the same as us” (New Jerusalem Bible, Barclay).

Who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat is placed prior to the previous clause by Good News Translation in order to make the contrast more effective, though most translations retain the sentence order of the Greek. New English Bible, maintaining the original clause order, translates “who have sweated the whole day long in the blazing sun.” Some translators start a new sentence here, as in “And yet we are the ones who worked all day in the heat of the sun.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .