Matthew 22
22
The Great Banquet
(Luke 14.15-24)
1Once again Jesus used stories to teach the people:
2The kingdom of heaven is like what happened when a king gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3The king sent some servants to tell the invited guests to come to the banquet, but the guests refused. 4He sent other servants to say to the guests, “The banquet is ready! My cattle and prize calves have all been prepared. Everything is ready. Come to the banquet!”
5But the guests did not pay any attention. Some of them left for their farms, and some went to their places of business. 6Others grabbed the servants, then beat them up and killed them.
7This made the king so furious that he sent an army to kill those murderers and burn down their city. 8Then he said to the servants, “It is time for the wedding banquet, and the invited guests don't deserve to come. 9Go out to the street corners and tell everyone you meet to come to the banquet.” 10They went out on the streets and brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike. And the banquet room was filled with guests.
11When the king went in to meet the guests, he found that one of them wasn't wearing the right kind of clothes for the wedding. 12The king asked, “Friend, why didn't you wear proper clothes for the wedding?” But the guest had no excuse. 13#Mt 8.12; 25.30; Lk 13.28. So the king gave orders for this person to be tied hand and foot and to be thrown outside into the dark. That's where people will cry and grit their teeth in pain. 14#2 Esd 8.3. Many are invited, but only a few are chosen.
Paying Taxes
(Mark 12.13-17; Luke 20.20-26)
15The Pharisees got together and planned how they could trick Jesus into saying something wrong. 16They sent some of their followers and some of Herod's followers#22.16 Herod's followers: People who were political followers of the family of Herod the Great (see 2.1) and his son Herod Antipas (see 14.1), and who wanted Herod to be king in Jerusalem. to say to him, “Teacher, we know that you are honest. You teach the truth about what God wants people to do. And you treat everyone with the same respect, no matter who they are. 17Tell us what you think! Should we pay taxes to the Emperor or not?”
18Jesus knew their evil thoughts and said, “Why are you trying to test me? You show-offs! 19Let me see one of the coins used for paying taxes.” They brought him a silver coin, 20and he asked, “Whose picture and name are on it?”
21“The Emperor's,” they answered.
Then Jesus told them, “Give the Emperor what belongs to him and give God what belongs to God.” 22His answer surprised them so much that they walked away.
Life in the Future World
(Mark 12.18-27; Luke 20.27-40)
23 #
Ac 23.8. The Sadducees did not believe people would rise to life after death. So that same day some of the Sadducees came to Jesus and said:
24 #
Dt 25.5. Teacher, Moses wrote that if a married man dies and has no children, his brother should marry the widow. Their first son would then be thought of as the son of the dead brother.
25Once there were seven brothers who lived here. The first one married, but died without having any children. So his wife was left to his brother. 26The same thing happened to the second and third brothers and finally to all seven of them. 27At last the woman died. 28When God raises people from death, whose wife will this woman be? She had been married to all seven brothers.
29Jesus answered:
You are completely wrong! You don't know what the Scriptures teach. And you don't know anything about the power of God. 30#Ws 5.5. When God raises people to life, they won't marry. They will be like the angels in heaven. 31And as for people being raised to life, God was speaking to you when he said, 32#Ex 3.6. “I am the God worshiped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”#22.32 I am the God worshiped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: Jesus argues that if God is worshiped by these three, they must still be alive, because he is the God of the living. He isn't the God of the dead, but of the living.
33The crowds were surprised to hear what Jesus was teaching.
The Most Important Commandment
(Mark 12.28-34; Luke 10.25-28)
34After Jesus had made the Sadducees look foolish, the Pharisees heard about it and got together. 35#Lk 10.25-28. One of them was an expert in the Jewish Law. So he tried to test Jesus by asking, 36“Teacher, what is the most important commandment in the Law?”
37 #
Dt 6.5. Jesus answered:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. 38This is the first and most important commandment. 39#Lv 19.18. The second most important commandment is like this one. And it is, “Love others as much as you love yourself.” 40All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets#22.40 the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets: The Jewish Scriptures, that is, the Old Testament. are based on these two commandments.
About David's Son
(Mark 12.35-37; Luke 20.41-44)
41While the Pharisees were still there, Jesus asked them, 42“What do you think about the Messiah? Whose family will he come from?”
They answered, “He will be a son of King David.”#22.42 son of King David: See the note at 9.27.
43Jesus replied, “How then could the Spirit lead David to call the Messiah his Lord? David said,
44 #
Ps 110.1. ‘The Lord said to my Lord:
Sit at my right side#22.44 right side: The place of power and honor.
until I make your enemies
into a footstool for you.’
45If David called the Messiah his Lord, how can the Messiah be a son of King David?” 46No one was able to give Jesus an answer, and from that day on, no one dared ask him any more questions.
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Matthew 22: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Matthew 22
22
1And Jesus answering spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2The kingdom of the heavens has become like a king who made a wedding feast for his son, 3and sent his bondmen to call the persons invited to the wedding feast, and they would not come. 4Again he sent other bondmen, saying, Say to the persons invited, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fatted beasts are killed, and all things ready; come to the wedding feast. 5But they made light of it, and went, one to his own land, and another to his commerce. 6And the rest, laying hold of his bondmen, ill-treated and slew them. 7And when the king heard of it he was wroth, and having sent his forces, destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8Then he says to his bondmen, The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy; 9go therefore into the thoroughfares of the highways, and as many as ye shall find invite to the wedding feast. 10And those bondmen went out into the highways, and brought together all as many as they found, both evil and good; and the wedding feast was furnished with guests. 11And the king, having gone in to see the guests, beheld there a man not clothed with a wedding garment. 12And he says to him, My friend, how camest thou in here not having on a wedding garment? But he was speechless. 13Then said the king to the servants, Bind him feet and hands, and take him away, and cast him out into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. 14For many are called ones, but few chosen ones.
15Then went the Pharisees and held a council how they might ensnare him in speaking. 16And they send out to him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that thou art true and teachest the way of God in truth, and carest not for any one, for thou regardest not men's person; 17tell us therefore what thou thinkest: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? 18But Jesus, knowing their wickedness, said, Why tempt ye me, hypocrites? 19Shew me the money of the tribute. And they presented to him a denarius. 20And he says to them, Whose is this image and superscription? 21They say to him, Caesar's. Then he says to them, Pay then what is Caesar's to Caesar, and what is God's to God. 22And when they heard him, they wondered, and left him, and went away.
23On that day came to him Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection; and they demanded of him, 24saying, Teacher, Moses said, If any one die, not having children, his brother shall marry his wife and shall raise up seed to his brother. 25Now there were with us seven brethren; and the first having married died, and not having seed, left his wife to his brother. 26In like manner also the second and the third, unto the seven. 27And last of all the woman also died. 28In the resurrection therefore of which of the seven shall she be wife, for all had her? 29And Jesus answering said to them, Ye err, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. 30For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as angels of God in heaven. 31But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 32I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not God of the dead, but of the living. 33And when the crowds heard it they were astonished at his doctrine.
34But the Pharisees, having heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, were gathered together. 35And one of them, a lawyer, demanded, tempting him, and saying, 36Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? 37And he said to him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy understanding. 38This is the great and first commandment. 39And the second is like it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40On these two commandments the whole law and the prophets hang.
41And the Pharisees being gathered together, Jesus demanded of them, 42saying, What think ye concerning the Christ? whose son is he? They say to him, David's. 43He says to them, How then does David in Spirit call him Lord, saying, 44The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand until I put thine enemies under thy feet? 45If therefore David call him Lord, how is he his son? 46And no one was able to answer him a word, nor did any one dare from that day to question him any more.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.