NAS - Matthew 22:1-22

22 Parable of the Marriage Feast

¹Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, ²"The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.³"And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come.⁴"Again he sent out other slaves saying, `Tell those who have been invited, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast."'⁵"But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business,⁶and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them.⁷"But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire.⁸"Then he *said to his slaves, `The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.⁹`Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.'¹⁰"Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.

¹¹"But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes,¹²and he *said to him, `Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?' And the man was speechless.¹³"Then the king said to the servants, `Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'¹⁴"For many are called, but few are chosen."

Tribute to Caesar

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said. ¹⁶And they *sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. ¹⁷"Tell us then, what do You think? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?" ¹⁸But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, "Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites?¹⁹"Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax."And they brought Him a denarius. ²⁰And He *said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?"²¹They *said to Him, "Caesar's." Then He *said to them, "Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's."²²And hearing this, they were amazed, and leaving Him, they went away.