Matthew 22

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

² "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son,

³ and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast; but they would not come.

⁴ Again he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have made ready my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves are killed, and everything is ready; come to the marriage feast.'

⁵ But they made light of it and went off, one to his farm, another to his business,

⁶ while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.

⁷ The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

⁸ Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy.

⁹ Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find.'

¹⁰ And those servants went out into the streets and 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 a man who had no wedding garment;

¹² and he said to him, '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 cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.'

¹⁴ For many are called, but few are chosen."

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how to entangle him in his talk.

¹⁶ And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodi-ans, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God truthfully, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men.

¹⁷ Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"

¹⁸ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why put me to the test, you hypocrites?

¹⁹ Show me the money for the tax." And they brought him a coin.

²⁰ And Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?"

²¹ They said, "Caesars." Then he said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesars, and to God the things that are Gods."

²² When they heard it, they marveled; and they left him and went away.

²³ The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection; and they asked him a question,

²⁴ saying, "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies, having no children, his brother must marry the widow, and raise up children for his brother.'

²⁵ Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married, and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother.

²⁶ So too the second and third, down to the seventh.

²⁷ After them all, the woman died.

²⁸ In the resurrection, therefore, to which of the seven will she be wife? For they all had her."

²⁹ But Jesus answered them, "You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.

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

³¹ And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God,

³² 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead, but of the living."

³³ And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.

³⁴ But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together.

³⁵ And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him.

³⁶ "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"

³⁷ And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.

³⁸ This is the great and first commandment.

³⁹ And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

⁴⁰ On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets."

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

⁴² saying, "What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David."

⁴³ He said to them, "How is it then that David, inspired by the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,

⁴⁴ 'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, till I put thy enemies under thy feet?

⁴⁵ If David thus calls him Lord, how is he his son?"

⁴⁶ And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did any one dare to ask him any more questions.