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Matthew 22:1-14
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Matthew 22:1-14
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]
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- 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.
- 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.
- 22:3–4 Servants…other servants: probably Christian missionaries in both instances; cf. Mt 23:34.
- 22:7 See note on Mt 22:1–14.
- 22:10 Bad and good alike: cf. Mt 13:47.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
Matthew 22:1-14
New American Standard Bible
Matthew 22:1-14
New American Standard Bible
Parable of the Marriage Feast
22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2 “(A)The kingdom of heaven [a]is like [b]a king who [c]held a (B)wedding feast for his son. 3 And he (C)sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. 4 Again he (D)sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened cattle are all butchered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!”’ 5 But they paid no attention and went their separate ways, one to his own [d]farm, another to his business, 6 and the rest seized his slaves and treated them abusively, and then killed them. 7 Now the king was angry, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. 8 Then he *said to his slaves, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 So go to (E)the main roads, and invite whomever you find there to the wedding feast.’ 10 Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good; and the wedding hall was filled with [e]dinner guests.
11 “But when the king came in to look over the [f]dinner guests, he saw (F)a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, 12 and he *said to him, ‘(G)Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet, and throw him into (H)the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in that place.’ 14 For many are [g](I)called, but few are (J)chosen.”
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- Matthew 22:2 Lit has been compared to
- Matthew 22:2 Lit a man, a king
- Matthew 22:2 Lit made
- Matthew 22:5 Or field
- Matthew 22:10 Lit those reclining at the table
- Matthew 22:11 Lit those reclining at the table
- Matthew 22:14 Or invited
Matthew 22:1-14
English Standard Version
Matthew 22:1-14
English Standard Version
The Parable of the Wedding Feast
22 And again Jesus (A)spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 (B)“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave (C)a wedding feast for his son, 3 and (D)sent his servants[a] to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 (E)Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my (F)dinner, (G)my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ 5 But (H)they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, (I)treated them shamefully, and (J)killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and (K)destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not (L)worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 And those servants went out into the roads and (M)gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there (N)a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, (O)‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and (P)cast him into the outer darkness. In that place (Q)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are (R)called, but few are (S)chosen.”
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- Matthew 22:3 Or bondservants; also verses 4, 6, 8, 10
Matthew 22:1-14
New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
Matthew 22:1-14
New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
22 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 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.’ 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. 8 Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 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.
11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. 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.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
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Matthew 22:1-14
New International Version
Matthew 22:1-14
New International Version
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet(A)
22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like(B) a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants(C) to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4 “Then he sent some more servants(D) and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers(E) and burned their city.
8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners(F) and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good,(G) and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend(H)?’ The man was speechless.
13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’(I)
14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”(J)
New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
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New American Standard Bible (NASB) 
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English Standard Version (ESV) 
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New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)
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