² “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.^(A)

The Parable of Weeds among the Wheat

²⁴ He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field,^(A)

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.^(B)

⁹ And the angel said^[a] to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”^(C)

¹⁶ Then Jesus^[a] said to him, “Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. ¹⁷ At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is ready now.’^{(A) 18} But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my regrets.’ ¹⁹ Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my regrets.’ ²⁰ Another said, ‘I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.’^{(B) 21} So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’^{(C) 22} And the slave said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ ²³ Then the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you,^[b] none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.’ ”^(D)

²⁴ Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷ so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind, so that she may be holy and without blemish.^{(A) 28} In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hates his own flesh, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, ³⁰ because we are members of his body.^{[a](B) 31} “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”^{(C) 32} This is a great mystery, but I am speaking about Christ and the church.

² I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.^(A)

²⁹ He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled.^{(A) 30} He must increase, but I must decrease.”^[a]

The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids

25 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten young women^[a] took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.^{[b](A) 2} Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.^{(B) 3} When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, ⁴ but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵ As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept.^{(C) 6} But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ ⁷ Then all those young women^[c] got up and trimmed their lamps.^{(D) 8} The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ ¹⁰ And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.^{(E) 11} Later the other young women^[d] came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’^{(F) 12} But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ ¹³ Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.^[e](G)

The Parable of the Talents

¹⁴ “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them;^(H)

² “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.^{(A) 3} He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come.^{(B) 4} Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’^{(C) 5} But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, ⁶ while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. ⁷ The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.^{(D) 8} Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy.^{(E) 9} Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ ¹⁰ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad, so the wedding hall was filled with guests.^(F)

¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe,^{(G) 12} and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless.^{(H) 13} Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’^{(I) 14} For many are called, but few are chosen.”