Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content
Previous Next
Add parallel Print Page Options
Close NABRE

Matthew 22
New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 22

The Parable of the Wedding Feast.[a] 1 (A)Jesus again in reply spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast[b] for his son. 3 [c]He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. 4 A second time he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’ 5 Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. 6 (B)The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. 7 [d]The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. 9 Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.’ 10 The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike,[e] and the hall was filled with guests. 11 [f]But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. 12 He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?’ But he was reduced to silence. 13 [g](C)Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ 14 Many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Paying Taxes to the Emperor.[h] 15 (D)Then the Pharisees[i] went off and plotted how they might entrap him in speech. 16 They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians,[j] saying, “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion, for you do not regard a person’s status. 17 [k]Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” 18 Knowing their malice, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? 19 [l]Show me the coin that pays the census tax.” Then they handed him the Roman coin. 20 He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” 21 (E)They replied, “Caesar’s.”[m] At that he said to them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” 22 When they heard this they were amazed, and leaving him they went away.

The Question About the Resurrection.[n] 23 (F)On that day Sadducees approached him, saying that there is no resurrection.[o] They put this question to him, 24 (G)saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies[p] without children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up descendants for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died and, having no descendants, left his wife to his brother. 26 The same happened with the second and the third, through all seven. 27 Finally the woman died. 28 Now at the resurrection, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had been married to her.” 29 [q]Jesus said to them in reply, “You are misled because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven. 31 And concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you[r] by God, 32 (H)‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” 33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

The Greatest Commandment.[s] 34 (I)When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them [a scholar of the law][t] tested him by asking, 36 “Teacher,[u] which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 (J)He said to him,[v] “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and the first commandment. 39 (K)The second is like it:[w] You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 [x](L)The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

The Question About David’s Son.[y] 41 (M)While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus questioned them,[z] 42 [aa]saying, “What is your opinion about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They replied, “David’s.” 43 He said to them, “How, then, does David, inspired by the Spirit, call him ‘lord,’ saying:

44 (N)‘The Lord said to my lord,
    “Sit at my right hand
    until I place your enemies under your feet”’?

45 [ab]If David calls him ‘lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 (O)No one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

Footnotes

  1. 22:1–14 This parable is from Q; see Lk 14:15–24. It has been given many allegorical traits by Matthew, e.g., the burning of the city of the guests who refused the invitation (Mt 22:7), which corresponds to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70. It has similarities with the preceding parable of the tenants: the sending of two groups of servants (Mt 22:3, 4), the murder of the servants (Mt 22:6), the punishment of the murderers (Mt 22:7), and the entrance of a new group into a privileged situation of which the others had proved themselves unworthy (Mt 22:8–10). The parable ends with a section that is peculiar to Matthew (Mt 22:11–14), which some take as a distinct parable. Matthew presents the kingdom in its double aspect, already present and something that can be entered here and now (Mt 22:1–10), and something that will be possessed only by those present members who can stand the scrutiny of the final judgment (Mt 22:11–14). The parable is not only a statement of God’s judgment on Israel but a warning to Matthew’s church.
  2. 22:2 Wedding feast: the Old Testament’s portrayal of final salvation under the image of a banquet (Is 25:6) is taken up also in Mt 8:11; cf. Lk 13:15.
  3. 22:3–4 Servants…other servants: probably Christian missionaries in both instances; cf. Mt 23:34.
  4. 22:7 See note on Mt 22:1–14.
  5. 22:10 Bad and good alike: cf. Mt 13:47.
  6. 22:11 A wedding garment: the repentance, change of heart and mind, that is the condition for entrance into the kingdom (Mt 3:2; 4:17) must be continued in a life of good deeds (Mt 7:21–23).
  7. 22:13 Wailing and grinding of teeth: the Christian who lacks the wedding garment of good deeds will suffer the same fate as those Jews who have rejected Jesus; see note on Mt 8:11–12.
  8. 22:15–22 The series of controversies between Jesus and the representatives of Judaism (see note on Mt 21:23–27) is resumed. As in the first (Mt 21:23–27), here and in the following disputes Matthew follows his Marcan source with few modifications.
  9. 22:15 The Pharisees: while Matthew retains the Marcan union of Pharisees and Herodians in this account, he clearly emphasizes the Pharisees’ part. They alone are mentioned here, and the Herodians are joined with them only in a prepositional phrase of Mt 22:16. Entrap him in speech: the question that they will pose is intended to force Jesus to take either a position contrary to that held by the majority of the people or one that will bring him into conflict with the Roman authorities.
  10. 22:16 Herodians: see note on Mk 3:6. They would favor payment of the tax; the Pharisees did not.
  11. 22:17 Is it lawful: the law to which they refer is the law of God.
  12. 22:19 They handed him the Roman coin: their readiness in producing the money implies their use of it and their acceptance of the financial advantages of the Roman administration in Palestine.
  13. 22:21 Caesar’s: the emperor Tiberius (A.D. 14–37). Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar: those who willingly use the coin that is Caesar’s should repay him in kind. The answer avoids taking sides in the question of the lawfulness of the tax. To God what belongs to God: Jesus raises the debate to a new level. Those who have hypocritically asked about tax in respect to its relation to the law of God should be concerned rather with repaying God with the good deeds that are his due; cf. Mt 21:41, 43.
  14. 22:23–33 Here Jesus’ opponents are the Sadducees, members of the powerful priestly party of his time; see note on Mt 3:7. Denying the resurrection of the dead, a teaching of relatively late origin in Judaism (cf. Dn 12:2), they appeal to a law of the Pentateuch (Dt 25:5–10) and present a case based on it that would make resurrection from the dead ridiculous (Mt 22:24–28). Jesus chides them for knowing neither the scriptures nor the power of God (Mt 22:29). His argument in respect to God’s power contradicts the notion, held even by many proponents as well as by opponents of the teaching, that the life of those raised from the dead would be essentially a continuation of the type of life they had had before death (Mt 22:30). His argument based on the scriptures (Mt 22:31–32) is of a sort that was accepted as valid among Jews of the time.
  15. 22:23 Saying that there is no resurrection: in the Marcan parallel (Mk 22:12, 18) the Sadducees are correctly defined as those “who say there is no resurrection”; see also Lk 20:27. Matthew’s rewording of Mark can mean that these particular Sadducees deny the resurrection, which would imply that he was not aware that the denial was characteristic of the party. For some scholars this is an indication of his being a Gentile Christian; see note on Mt 21:4–5.
  16. 22:24 ‘If a man dies…his brother’: this is known as the “law of the levirate,” from the Latin levir, “brother-in-law.” Its purpose was to continue the family line of the deceased brother (Dt 25:6).
  17. 22:29 The sexual relationships of this world will be transcended; the risen body will be the work of the creative power of God.
  18. 22:31–32 Cf. Ex 3:6. In the Pentateuch, which the Sadducees accepted as normative for Jewish belief and practice, God speaks even now (to you) of himself as the God of the patriarchs who died centuries ago. He identifies himself in relation to them, and because of their relation to him, the living God, they too are alive. This might appear no argument for the resurrection, but simply for life after death as conceived in Wis 3:1–3. But the general thought of early first-century Judaism was not influenced by that conception; for it human immortality was connected with the existence of the body.
  19. 22:34–40 The Marcan parallel (Mk 12:28–34) is an exchange between Jesus and a scribe who is impressed by the way in which Jesus has conducted himself in the previous controversy (Mk 12:28), who compliments him for the answer he gives him (Mk 12:32), and who is said by Jesus to be “not far from the kingdom of God” (Mk 12:34). Matthew has sharpened that scene. The questioner, as the representative of other Pharisees, tests Jesus by his question (Mt 22:34–35), and both his reaction to Jesus’ reply and Jesus’ commendation of him are lacking.
  20. 22:35 [A scholar of the law]: meaning “scribe.” Although this reading is supported by the vast majority of textual witnesses, it is the only time that the Greek word so translated occurs in Matthew. It is relatively frequent in Luke, and there is reason to think that it may have been added here by a copyist since it occurs in the Lucan parallel (Lk 10:25–28). Tested: see note on Mt 19:3.
  21. 22:36 For the devout Jew all the commandments were to be kept with equal care, but there is evidence of preoccupation in Jewish sources with the question put to Jesus.
  22. 22:37–38 Cf. Dt 6:5. Matthew omits the first part of Mark’s fuller quotation (Mk 12:29; Dt 6:4–5), probably because he considered its monotheistic emphasis needless for his church. The love of God must engage the total person (heart, soul, mind).
  23. 22:39 Jesus goes beyond the extent of the question put to him and joins to the greatest and the first commandment a second, that of love of neighbor, Lv 19:18; see note on Mt 19:18–19. This combination of the two commandments may already have been made in Judaism.
  24. 22:40 The double commandment is the source from which the whole law and the prophets are derived.
  25. 22:41–46 Having answered the questions of his opponents in the preceding three controversies, Jesus now puts a question to them about the sonship of the Messiah. Their easy response (Mt 22:43a) is countered by his quoting a verse of Ps 110 that raises a problem for their response (43b–45). They are unable to solve it and from that day on their questioning of him is ended.
  26. 22:41 The Pharisees…questioned them: Mark is not specific about who are questioned (Mk 12:35).
  27. 22:42–44 David’s: this view of the Pharisees was based on such Old Testament texts as Is 11:1–9; Jer 23:5; and Ez 34:23; see also the extrabiblical Psalms of Solomon 17:21. How, then…saying: Jesus cites Ps 110:1 accepting the Davidic authorship of the psalm, a common view of his time. The psalm was probably composed for the enthronement of a Davidic king of Judah. Matthew assumes that the Pharisees interpret it as referring to the Messiah, although there is no clear evidence that it was so interpreted in the Judaism of Jesus’ time. It was widely used in the early church as referring to the exaltation of the risen Jesus. My lord: understood as the Messiah.
  28. 22:45 Since Matthew presents Jesus both as Messiah (Mt 16:16) and as Son of David (Mt 1:1; see also note on Mt 9:27), the question is not meant to imply Jesus’ denial of Davidic sonship. It probably means that although he is the Son of David, he is someone greater, Son of Man and Son of God, and recognized as greater by David who calls him my ‘lord.’
Close NTV

Mateo 22
Nueva Traducción Viviente

Parábola de la gran fiesta

22 Jesús también les contó otras parábolas. Dijo: 2 «El reino del cielo también puede ilustrarse mediante la historia de un rey que preparó una gran fiesta de bodas para su hijo. 3 Cuando el banquete estuvo listo, el rey envió a sus sirvientes para llamar a los invitados. ¡Pero todos se negaron a asistir!

4 »Entonces envió a otros sirvientes a decirles: “La fiesta está preparada. Se han matado los toros y las reses engordadas, y todo está listo. ¡Vengan al banquete!”. 5 Pero las personas a quienes había invitado no hicieron caso y siguieron su camino: uno se fue a su granja y otro a su negocio. 6 Otros agarraron a los mensajeros, los insultaron y los mataron.

7 »El rey se puso furioso, y envió a su ejército para destruir a los asesinos y quemar su ciudad. 8 Y les dijo a los sirvientes: “La fiesta de bodas está lista y las personas a las que invité no son dignas de tal honor. 9 Ahora salgan a las esquinas de las calles e inviten a todos los que vean”. 10 Entonces los sirvientes llevaron a todos los que pudieron encontrar, tanto buenos como malos, y la sala del banquete se llenó de invitados.

11 »Cuando el rey entró para recibir a los invitados, notó que había un hombre que no estaba vestido apropiadamente para una boda. 12 “Amigo—le preguntó—, ¿cómo es que estás aquí sin ropa de bodas?”. Pero el hombre no tuvo respuesta. 13 Entonces el rey dijo a sus asistentes: “Átenlo de pies y manos y arrójenlo a la oscuridad de afuera, donde habrá llanto y rechinar de dientes”.

14 »Pues muchos son los llamados, pero pocos los elegidos».

Los impuestos para el César

15 Entonces los fariseos se juntaron para tramar cómo hacer que Jesús cayera en la trampa de decir algo por lo cual pudiera ser arrestado. 16 Enviaron a algunos de sus discípulos, junto con los partidarios de Herodes, a buscarlo.

—Maestro—dijeron—, sabemos lo honesto que eres. Enseñas con verdad el camino de Dios. Eres imparcial y no tienes favoritismos. 17 Ahora bien, dinos qué piensas de lo siguiente: ¿Es correcto que paguemos impuestos al César o no?

18 Pero Jesús conocía sus malas intenciones.

—¡Hipócritas!—dijo—. ¿Por qué intentan atraparme? 19 Veamos, muéstrenme la moneda que se usa para el impuesto.

Cuando le entregaron una moneda romana,[a] 20 les preguntó:

—¿A quién pertenecen la imagen y el título grabados en la moneda?

21 —Al César—contestaron.

—Bien—dijo—, entonces den al César lo que pertenece al César y den a Dios lo que pertenece a Dios.

22 Su respuesta los dejó asombrados, y se marcharon.

Discusión acerca de la resurrección

23 Ese mismo día, se acercaron a Jesús algunos saduceos, líderes religiosos que dicen que no hay resurrección después de la muerte. Le plantearon la siguiente pregunta:

24 —Maestro, Moisés dijo: “Si un hombre muere sin haber tenido hijos, su hermano debe casarse con la viuda y darle un hijo para que el nombre del hermano continúe”[b]. 25 Ahora bien, supongamos que había siete hermanos. El mayor se casó y murió sin dejar hijos, entonces su hermano se casó con la viuda. 26 El segundo hermano también murió, y el tercero se casó con ella. Lo mismo sucedió con los siete. 27 Por último, la mujer también murió. 28 Entonces dinos, ¿de quién será esposa en la resurrección? Pues los siete estuvieron casados con ella.

29 Jesús contestó:

—El error de ustedes es que no conocen las Escrituras y no conocen el poder de Dios. 30 Pues cuando los muertos resuciten, no se casarán ni se entregarán en matrimonio. En este sentido, serán como los ángeles del cielo.

31 »Ahora bien, en cuanto a si habrá una resurrección de los muertos, ¿nunca han leído acerca de esto en las Escrituras? Mucho después de que Abraham, Isaac y Jacob murieran, Dios dijo:[c] 32 “Yo soy el Dios de Abraham, el Dios de Isaac y el Dios de Jacob”[d]. Por lo tanto, él es Dios de los que están vivos, no de los muertos.

33 Cuando las multitudes lo escucharon, quedaron atónitas ante su enseñanza.

El mandamiento más importante

34 En cuanto los fariseos oyeron que había silenciado a los saduceos con esa respuesta, se juntaron para interrogarlo nuevamente. 35 Uno de ellos, experto en la ley religiosa, intentó tenderle una trampa con la siguiente pregunta:

36 —Maestro, ¿cuál es el mandamiento más importante en la ley de Moisés?

37 Jesús contestó:

—“Ama al Señor tu Dios con todo tu corazón, con toda tu alma y con toda tu mente”[e] . 38 Este es el primer mandamiento y el más importante. 39 Hay un segundo mandamiento que es igualmente importante: “Ama a tu prójimo como a ti mismo”[f]. 40 Toda la ley y las exigencias de los profetas se basan en estos dos mandamientos.

¿De quién es hijo el Mesías?

41 Entonces, rodeado por los fariseos, Jesús les hizo una pregunta:

42 —¿Qué piensan del Mesías? ¿De quién es hijo?

Ellos contestaron:

—Es hijo de David.

43 Jesús les respondió:

—Entonces, ¿por qué David, mientras hablaba bajo la inspiración del Espíritu, llama al Mesías “mi Señor”? Pues David dijo:

44 “El Señor le dijo a mi Señor:
‘Siéntate en el lugar de honor a mi derecha,
    hasta que humille a tus enemigos y los ponga por debajo de tus pies’”[g] .

45 Si David llamó al Mesías “mi Señor”, ¿cómo es posible que el Mesías sea su hijo?

46 Nadie pudo responderle, y a partir de entonces, ninguno se atrevió a hacerle más preguntas.

Footnotes

  1. 22:19 En griego un denario.
  2. 22:24 Dt 25:5-6.
  3. 22:31 En griego ¿nunca han leído acerca de esto? Dios dijo.
  4. 22:32 Ex 3:6.
  5. 22:37 Dt 6:5.
  6. 22:39 Lv 19:18.
  7. 22:44 Sal 110:1.
Next
Matthew 21
Matthew 23
Next
dropdown
New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Nueva Traducción Viviente (NTV)

La Santa Biblia, Nueva Traducción Viviente, © Tyndale House Foundation, 2010. Todos los derechos reservados.