Matthew 22:1–14

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

22:2–14Ref—Lk 14:16–24

22Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ²“The kingdom of heaven is like^m a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. ³He sent his servantsⁿ 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^o 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. ⁶The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. ⁷The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers^p 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. ⁹So go to the street corners^q and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ ¹⁰So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good,^r 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. ¹²He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend^s?’ 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.’^t

¹⁴“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”^u