Matthew 22:1-19

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

22:1 Jesus spoke ¹  to them again in parables, saying: 22:2 “The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 22:3 He sent his slaves ²  to summon those who had been invited to the banquet, but they would not come. 22:4 Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Look! The feast I have prepared for you is ready. ³  My oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.”’ 22:5 But they were indifferent and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. 22:6 The ⁴  rest seized his slaves, insolently mistreated them, and killed them. 22:7 The ⁵  king was furious! He sent his soldiers, and they put those murderers to death ⁶  and set their city ⁷  on fire. 22:8 Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but the ones who had been invited were not worthy. 22:9 So go into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ 22:10 And those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. 22:11 But when the king came in to see the wedding guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 22:12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But he had nothing to say. ⁸  22:13 Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’ 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Paying Taxes to Caesar

22:15 Then the Pharisees ⁹  went out and planned together to entrap him with his own words. ¹⁰  22:16 They sent to him their disciples along with the Herodians, ¹¹  saying, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful, and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. ¹²  You do not court anyone’s favor because you show no partiality. ¹³  22:17 Tell us then, what do you think? Is it right ¹⁴  to pay taxes ¹⁵  to Caesar ¹⁶  or not?”

22:18 But Jesus realized their evil intentions and said, “Hypocrites! Why are you testing me? 22:19 Show me the coin used for the tax.” So ¹⁷  they brought him a denarius. ¹⁸ 

[22:1]  ¹ tn Grk “And answering again, Jesus spoke.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

[22:3]  ² tn See the note on the word “slave” in 8:9.

[22:4]  ³ tn Grk “Behold, I have prepared my dinner.” In some contexts, however, to translate ἄριστον (ariston) as “dinner” somewhat misses the point. L&N 23.22 here suggests, “See now, the feast I have prepared (for you is ready).”

[22:6]  ⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[22:7]  ⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[22:7]  ⁶ tn Grk “he sent his soldiers, destroyed those murderers.” The verb ἀπώλεσεν (apwlesen) is causative, indicating that the king was the one behind the execution of the murderers. In English the causative idea is not expressed naturally here; either a purpose clause (“he sent his soldiers to put those murderers to death”) or a relative clause (“he sent his soldier who put those murderers to death”) is preferred.

[22:7]  ⁷ tn The Greek text reads here πόλις (polis), which could be translated “town” or “city.” The prophetic reference is to the city of Jerusalem, so “city” is more appropriate here.

[22:12]  ⁸ tn Grk “he was silent.”

[22:15]  ⁹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[22:15]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “trap him in word.”

[22:16]  ¹¹ sn The Herodians are mentioned in the NT only once in Matt (22:16 = Mark 12:13) and twice in Mark (3:6; 12:13; some mss also read “Herodians” instead of “Herod” in Mark 8:15). It is generally assumed that as a group the Herodians were Jewish supporters of the Herodian dynasty (or of Herod Antipas in particular). In every instance they are linked with the Pharisees. This probably reflects agreement regarding political objectives (nationalism as opposed to submission to the yoke of Roman oppression) rather than philosophy or religious beliefs.

[22:16]  ¹² sn Teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Very few comments are as deceitful as this one; they did not really believe this at all. The question of the Pharisees and Herodians was specifically designed to trap Jesus.

[22:16]  ¹³ tn Grk “And it is not a concern to you about anyone because you do not see the face of men.”

[22:17]  ¹⁴ tn Or “lawful,” that is, in accordance with God’s divine law. On the syntax of ἔξεστιν (exestin) with an infinitive and accusative, see BDF §409.3.

[22:17]  ¹⁵ tn According to L&N 57.180 the term κῆνσος (khnso") was borrowed from Latin and referred to a poll tax, a tax paid by each adult male to the Roman government.

[22:17]  ¹⁶ tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[22:19]  ¹⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate their response to Jesus’ request for a coin.

[22:19]  ¹⁸ tn Here the specific name of the coin was retained in the translation, because not all coins in circulation in Palestine at the time carried the image of Caesar. In other places δηνάριον (dhnarion) has been translated simply as “silver coin” with an explanatory note.