Matthew 22

CHAPTER 22

Parable of the Wedding Feast

¹And Jesus answered and spoke to them again in parables, saying,

²“^aThe kingdom of heaven ¹may be compared to ²a king who ³gave a ^bwedding feast for his son.

³“And he ^asent out his slaves to call those who had been called to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come.

⁴“Again he ^asent 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 ¹farm, another to his business,

⁶and 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 ^athe 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 ¹dinner guests.

¹¹“But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw ^aa man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes,

¹²and he ^*said to him, ‘^aFriend, 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 ^athe outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

¹⁴“For many are ^1acalled, but few are ^bchosen.”

Taxes to Caesar

^15aThen the Pharisees went and took counsel together about how they might trap Him ¹in what He said.

¹⁶And they ^*sent their disciples to Him, along with the ^aHerodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and ¹defer to no one; for You are not partial to any.

¹⁷“Therefore, tell us, what do You think? Is it ¹lawful to give a ^atax to ^bCaesar, or not?”

¹⁸But Jesus, knowing their wickedness, said, “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites?

¹⁹“Show Me the ^acoin used for the tax.” And they brought Him a ¹denarius.

²⁰And He ^*said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”

²¹They ^*said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He ^*said to them, “^aTherefore, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.”

²²And hearing this, they marveled, and ^aleaving Him, they went away.

The Sadducees and the Resurrection

^23aOn that day some ^bSadducees (who say ^cthere is no resurrection) came to Jesus and asked Him a question,

²⁴saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘^aIf a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife and raise up a seed for his brother.’

²⁵“Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no ¹seed, he left his wife to his brother;

²⁶so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh.

²⁷“And last of all, the woman died.

²⁸“In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her.”

²⁹But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, ^anot ¹understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God.

³⁰“For in the resurrection they neither ^amarry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

³¹“But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying,

³²‘^aI am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

³³And when the crowds heard this, ^athey were astonished at His teaching.

The Foremost Commandment

^34aBut when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced ^bthe Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.

³⁵And one of them, ^aa scholar of the Law, asked Him a question, testing Him,

³⁶“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

³⁷And He said to him, “‘^aYou shall love the ¹Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

³⁸“This is the great and ¹foremost commandment.

³⁹“And the second is like it, ‘^aYou shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

⁴⁰“^aOn these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”

^41aNow while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question,

⁴²saying, “What do you think about ¹the Christ, whose son is He?” They ^*said to Him, “^aThe son of David.”

⁴³He ^*said to them, “Then how does David ^1ain the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying,

⁴⁴‘^aThe ¹Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at My right hand,

Until I put Your enemies beneath Your feet” ’?

⁴⁵“Therefore, if David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?”

^46aAnd no one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him ¹another question.