Parable of the Wedding Feast

22 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again in parables, saying, ² “^(A)The kingdom of heaven ^[a]may be compared to ^[b]a king who ^[c]gave a ^(B)wedding feast for his son. ³ And he ^(C)sent out his slaves to call those who had been called to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. ⁴ Again he ^(D)sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been called, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”’ ⁵ But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own ^[d]farm, another to his business, ⁶ and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. ⁸ Then he *said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were called were not worthy. ⁹ Go therefore to ^(E)the main highways, and as many as you find there, call to the wedding feast.’ ¹⁰ And those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with ^[e]dinner guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to look over the 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 come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into ^(H)the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ For many are ^[f](I)called, but few are ^(J)chosen.”