The law and the gospel both require the full and prompt payment of a just equivalent for all services rendered according to agreement, Leviticus 19:13 Jeremiah 22:13 James 5:4. Eternal death is the wages or just recompense of sin; while eternal life is not a recompense earned by obedience, but a sovereign gift of God, Romans 6:22-23.

Rate of (mention only in Matthew 20:2); to be punctually paid (Leviticus 19:13; Deuteronomy 24:14,15); judgements threatened against the withholding of (Jeremiah 22:13; Malachi 3:5; Compare James 5:4); paid in money (Matthew 20:1-14); to Jacob in kind (Genesis 29:15,20; 30:28; 31:7,8,41).

WAGES, n. plural in termination, but singular in signification.

1. Hire; reward; that which is paid or stipulated for services; but chiefly for services by manual labor, or for military and naval services. We speak of servants wages, a laborers wages, or soldiers wages; but we never apply the word to the rewards given to men in office, which are called fees or salary. The word is however sometimes applied to the compensation given to representatives in the legislature. U. States

Tell me, what shall thy wages be? Gen. 29.

Be content with your wages. Luke 3.

2. Reward; fruit; recompense; that which is given or received in return.

The wages of sin is death. Rom. 6.

The earliest mention of wages is of a recompense, not in money, but in kind, to Jacob from Laban. (Genesis 29:15,20; 30:28; 31:7,8,41) In Egypt money payments by way of wages were in use, but the terms cannot now be ascertained. (Exodus 2:9) The only mention of the rate of wages in Scripture is found in the parable of the householder and the vineyard, (Matthew 20:2) where the laborer’s wages was set at one denarius per day, probably 15 to 17 cents, a sum which may be fairly taken as equivalent to the denarius, and to the usual pay of a soldier (ten asses per diem) in the later days of the Roman republic. Tac. Ann. i. 17; Polyb. vi. 39. In earlier times it is probable that the rate was lower; but it is likely that laborers, and also soldiers, were supplied with provisions. The law was very strict in requiring daily payment of wages. (Leviticus 19:13; 24:14,15) The employer who refused to give his-laborers sufficient victuals is censured (Job 22:11) and the iniquity of withholding wages is denounced. (Jeremiah 22:13; Malachi 3:5; James 6:4)