Matthew 22 - NIV Translation

(Mat 22:1 NIV) Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying:

(Mat 22:2 NIV) "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.

(Mat 22:3 NIV) He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

(Mat 22:4 NIV) "Then he sent some more servants 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.'

(Mat 22:5 NIV) "But they paid no attention and went off--one to his field, another to his business.

(Mat 22:6 NIV) The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.

(Mat 22:7 NIV) The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

(Mat 22:8 NIV) "Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.

(Mat 22:9 NIV) Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.'

(Mat 22:10 NIV) So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

(Mat 22:11 NIV) "But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.

(Mat 22:12 NIV) 'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless.

(Mat 22:13 NIV) "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.'

(Mat 22:14 NIV) "For many are invited, but few are chosen."

(Mat 22:15 NIV) Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.

(Mat 22:16 NIV) They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are.

(Mat 22:17 NIV) Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

(Mat 22:18 NIV) But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?

(Mat 22:19 NIV) Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius,

(Mat 22:20 NIV) and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?"

(Mat 22:21 NIV) "Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

(Mat 22:22 NIV) When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

(Mat 22:23 NIV) That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question.

(Mat 22:24 NIV) "Teacher," they said, "Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him.

(Mat 22:25 NIV) Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother.

(Mat 22:26 NIV) The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh.

(Mat 22:27 NIV) Finally, the woman died.

(Mat 22:28 NIV) Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?"

(Mat 22:29 NIV) Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.

(Mat 22:30 NIV) At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.

(Mat 22:31 NIV) But about the resurrection of the dead--have you not read what God said to you,

(Mat 22:32 NIV) 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob' ? He is not the God of the dead but of the living."

(Mat 22:33 NIV) When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

(Mat 22:34 NIV) Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.

(Mat 22:35 NIV) One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:

(Mat 22:36 NIV) "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

(Mat 22:37 NIV) Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'

(Mat 22:38 NIV) This is the first and greatest commandment.

(Mat 22:39 NIV) And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

(Mat 22:40 NIV) All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

(Mat 22:41 NIV) While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,

(Mat 22:42 NIV) "What do you think about the Christ ? Whose son is he?" "The son of David," they replied.

(Mat 22:43 NIV) He said to them, "How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him 'Lord'? For he says,

(Mat 22:44 NIV) "'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet."'

(Mat 22:45 NIV) If then David calls him 'Lord,' how can he be his son?"

(Mat 22:46 NIV) No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.