The Gospel According to Matthew, chapters 22 - 25
22 THEN JESUS SPOKE to them again in parables: 'The kingdom of Heaven
is like this. There was a king who prepared a feast for his son's wedding;
but when he sent his servants to summon the guests he had invited, they
would not come. He sent others again, telling them to say to the guests,
"See now! I have prepared this feast for you. I have had my bullocks and
fatted beasts slaughtered; everything is ready; come to the wedding at
once." But they took no notice; one went off to his farm, another to his
business, and the others seized the servants, attacked them brutally, and
killed them. The king was furious; he sent troops to kill those murderers
and set their town on fire. Then he said to his servants, "The wedding-feast
is ready; but the guests I invited did not deserve the honour. Go out to the
main thoroughfares, and invite everyone you can find to the wedding."
The servants went out into the streets, and collected all they could find,
good and bad alike. So the hall was packed with guests.
'When the king came in to see the company at the table, he observed one
man who was not dressed for a wedding. "My friend," said the king, "how
do you come here without your wedding clothes?" He had nothing
to say. The king then said to his attendants, "Bind him hand a foot;
turn him out into the dark, the place of wailing and grinding of teeth." For
though many are invited, few are chosen.'
THEN THE PHARISEES went away and agreed on a plan to trap him in his
own words. Some of the followers were sent to him in company with men
of Herod's party. They said, 'Master, you are an honest man, we know; you
teach in all honesty the way of life that God requires, truckling to no man,
whoever he may be. Give us your ruling on this: are we or are we no per-
mitted to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor?' Jesus was aware of their
malicious intention and said to them, 'You hypocrites! Why are you
trying to catch me out? Show me the money in which the tax is paid.' They
handed him a silver piece. Jesus asked, 'Whose head is on this, and whose
inscription?' 'Caesar's', they replied. He said to them, 'Then pay Caesar
what is due to Caesar, and pay God what is due to God.' This answer took
them by surprise, and they went away and left him alone.
The same day Sadducees came to him, maintaining that there is no
resurrection. Their question was this: 'Master, Moses said, "If a man
should die childless, his brother shall marry the widow and carry on his
brother's family." Now we knew of seven brothers. The first married and
died, and as he was without issue his wife was left to his brother. The same
thing happened with the second, and the third, and so on with all seven.
Last of all the woman died. At the resurrection, then, whose wife will she
be, for they had all married her?' Jesus answered: 'You are mistaken,
because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. At the
resurrection men and women do not marry; they are like angels in heaven.
'But about the resurrection of the dead, have you never read what God
himself said to you: "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the
God of Jacob"? He is not God of the dead but of the living.' The people
heard what he said, and were astounded at his teaching.
Hearing that he had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees met together;
and one of their number tested him with this question: 'Master, which is
the greatest commandment in the Law?' He answered, ' "Love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind." That
is the greatest commandment. It comes first. The second is like it: "Love
your neighbour as yourself." Everything in the Law and the prophets
hangs on these two commandments.'
Turning to the assembled Pharisees Jesus asked them, 'What is your
opinion about the Messiah? Whose son is he?' 'The son of David', they
replied. 'How then is it', he asked, 'that David by inspiration calls him
"Lord? For he says, "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies under your feet.' " If David calls him "Lord",
how can he be David's son?' Not a man could say a word in reply; and from
that day forward no one dared ask him another question.
23 JESUS THEN ADDRESSED the people and his disciples in these words:
'The doctors of the law and the Pharisees sit in the chair of Moses; therefore
do what they tell you; pay attention to their words. But do not follow their
practice; for they say one thing and do another. They make up heavy packs
and pile them on men's shoulders, but will not raise a finger to lift the load
themselves. Whatever they do is done for show. They go about with broad
phylacteries and with large tassels on their robes; they like to have places
of honour at feasts and the chief seats in synagogues, to be greeted resect-
fully in the street, and to be addressed as "rabbi".
'But you must not be called "rabbi"; for you have one Rabbi, and you are
all brothers. Do not call any man on earth father; for you have one Father,
and he is in heaven. Nor must you be called "teacher"; you have one
Teacher, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be your servant. For
whoever exalts himself will be humbled; and whoever humbles himself
will be exalted.
'Alas, alas for you, lawyers and Pharisees, hypocrites that you are! You
shut the door of the kingdom of Heaven in men's faces; you do not enter
yourselves, and when others are entering, you stop them.
'Alas for you, lawyers and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel over the sea
and land to win one convert; and when you have won him you make him
twice as fit for hell as you are yourselves.
'Alas for you, blind guides! You say, "If a man swears by the sanctuary,
that is nothing; but if he swears by the gold in the sanctuary, he is bound
by his oath." Blind fools! Which is more important, the gold, or the
sanctuary which sanctifies the gold? Or you say, "If a man swears by the
altar, that is nothing; but if he swears by the offering that lies on the altar,
he is bound by his oath." What blindness! Which is more important, the
offering, or the altar which sanctifies it? To swear by the altar, then, is to
swear both by the altar and by whatever lies on it; to swear by the sanctuary
is to swear both by the sanctuary and by him who dwells there; and to swear
by heaven is to swear both by the throne of God and by him who sits
upon it.
'Alas for you, lawyers and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint
and dill and cummin; but you have overlooked the weightier demands of
the Law, justice, mercy, and good faith. It is these you should have prac-
tised, without neglecting the others. Blind guides! You strain off a midge,
yet gulp down a camel!
'Alas for you, lawyers and Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of
cup and dish, which you have filled inside by robbery and self-indulgence!
Blind Pharisee! Clean the inside of the cup first; then the outside will be
clean also.
'Alas for you, lawyers and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like tombs
covered with whitewash; they look well from outside, but inside they are
full of dead men's bones and all kinds of filth. So it is with you: outside you
look like honest men, but inside you are brim-full of hypocrisy and crime.
'Alas for you, lawyers and Pharisees, hypocrites! You build up the tombs
of the prophets and embellish the monuments of the saints, and you say,
"If we had been alive in our fathers' time, we should never have take part
with them in the murder of the prophets." So you acknowledge that you
are the sons of the men who killed the prophets. Go on then, finish off what
your fathers began!
'You snakes, you vipers' brood, how can you escape being condemned
to hell? I send you therefore prophets, sages, and teachers; some of them
you will kill and crucify, others you will flog in your synagogues an hound
from city to city. And so, on you will fall the guilt of all the innocent blood
spilt on the ground, from innocent Abel to Zechariah son of Berachiah,
whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Believe me, this
generation will bear the guilt of it all.
'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that murders the prophets and stones
the messengers sent to her! How often have I longed to gather your
children, as hens gather her brood under her wings; but you would not
let me. Look, look! there is your temple, forsaken by God. And I tell
you, you shall never see me until the time when you say, "Blessings on him
who comes in the name of the Lord.
24 JESUS WAS LEAVING the temple when his disciples came and pointed to
the temple buildings. He answered, 'Yes, look at it all. I tell you this:
not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.'
When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives the disciples came to speak
to him privately. 'Tell us,' they said, 'when will this happen? And what will
be the signal for your coming and the end of the age?'
Jesus replied: 'Take care that no one misleads you. For many will come
claiming my name and saying, "I am the Messiah"; and many will be
misled by them. The time is coming when you will hear the noise of battle
near at hand and the news of battles far away; see that you are not alarmed.
Such things are bound to happen; but the end is still to come. For nation
will make war upon nation, kingdom upon kingdom; there will be famines
and earthquakes in many places. With all these things the birth-pangs of
the new age begin.
'You will then be handed over for punishment and execution; and men
of all nations will hate you for your allegiance to me. Many will fall from
their faith; they will betray one another and hate one another. Many false
prophets will arise, and will mislead many; and as lawlessness spreads,
men's love for one another will grow cold. But the man who holds out to the
end will be saved. And this gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed
throughout the earth as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will
come.
'So when you see "the abomination of desolation", of which the prophet
Daniel spoke, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then
those who are in Judaea must take to the hills. If a man is on the roof, he
must not come down to fetch his goods from the house; if in the field, he
must not turn back for his coat. Alas for women with child in those days,
and for those who have children at the breast! Pray that it may not be
winter when you have to make your escape, or Sabbath. It will be a time of
great distress; there has never been such a time from the beginning of the
world until now, and will never be again. If that time of troubles were not
cut short, no living thing could survive; but for the sake of God's chosen it
will be cut short.
'Then, if anyone says to you, "Look, here is the Messiah", or, "There he
is", do not believe it. Imposters will come claiming to be messiahs or
prophets, and they will produce great signs and wonders to mislead even
God's chosen, if such a thing were possible. See, I have forewarned you.
If they tell you, "He is there in the wilderness", do not go out; or if they
say, "He is there in the inner room", do not believe it. Like lightning
from the east, flashing as far as the west, will be the coming of the Son
of Man.
'Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
'As soon as the distress of those days has passed, the sun will be darkened,
the moon will not give her light, the stars will fall from the sky, the celestial
power will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign that heralds
the Son of Man. All the peoples of the world will make lamentation, and
they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with great
power and glory. With a trumpet blast he will send out his angels, and they
will gather his chosen from the four winds, from the farthest bounds of
heaven on every side.
'Learn a lesson from the fig-tree. When its tender shoots appear and
are breaking into leaf, you know that summer is near. In the same way,
when you see all these things, you may know that the end is near, at the
very door. I tell you this: the present generation will live to see it all. Heaven
and earth will pass away; my words will never pass away.
'But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in
heaven, not even the Son; only the Father.
'As things were in Noah's days, so will they be when the Son of Man
comes. In the days before the flood they ate and drank and married, until
the day that Noah went into the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood
came and swept them all away. That is how it will be when the Son of Man
comes. Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken, the other
left; two women grinding at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.
'Keep awake, then; for you do not know on what day your Lord is to
come. Remember, if the householder had known at what time of night the
burglar was coming, he would have kept awake and not have let his house
be broken into. Hold yourselves ready, therefore, because the Son of Man
will come at the time you least expect him.
'Who is the trusty servant, the sensible man charged by his master to
manage his household staff and issue their rations at the proper time?
Happy that servant who is found at his task when his master come! I tell
you this: he will be put in charge of all his master's property. But if he is
a bad servant and says to himself, "The master is a long time coming", and
begins to bully the other servants and to eat and drink with his drunken
friends, then no master will arrive on a day that the servant does not expect,
at a time he does not know, and will cut hi to pieces. Thus he will find his
place among the hypocrites, where there is wailing and grinding of teeth.
25 'When that day comes, the kingdom of Heaven will be like this. There
were ten girls, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
Five of them were foolish, and five prudent; when the foolish ones took
their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the others took flasks of oil
with their lamps. As the bridegroom was late in coming they all dozed off
to sleep. But at midnight a cry was heard: "Here is the bridegroom! Come
out to meet him." With that the girls all got up and trimmed their lamps.
The foolish said to the prudent, "Our lamps are going out; give us some of
your oil." "No," they said; "there will never be enough for all of us. You
had better go to the shop and buy some for yourselves." While they were
away the bridegroom arrived; those who were ready went in with him to
the wedding; and the door was shut. And then the other five came back.
"Sir, sir," they cried, "open the door for us." But he answered, "I declare,
I do not know you." Keep awake then; for you never know the day or the
hour.
'It is like a man going abroad, who called his servants and put his capital
in their hands; to one he gave five bags of gold, to another two, to another
one, each according to his capacity. Then he left the country. The man who
had the five bags went at once and employed them in business, and made
a profit of five bags, and the man who had the two bags made two. But the
man who had been given one bag of gold went off and dug a hole in the
ground and hid the master's money. A long time afterwards their master
returned and proceeded to settle accounts with them. The man who had
been given the five bags of gold came and produced the five he had made:
"Master," he said, "you left five bags with me; look, I have made five more."
"Well done, my good and trusty servant!" said the master. "you have
proven trustworthy in a small way; I will now put you in charge of some-
thing big. Come and share your master's delight." The man with the two
bags then came and said, "Master, you left two bags with me; look, I have
made two more." "Well done, my good and trusty servant!" said the
master. "You have proved trustworthy in a small way; I will now put you
in charge of something big. Come and share your master's delight." Then
the man who had been given one bag came and said, "Master, I knew you
to be a hard man: you reap where you have not sown, you gather where you
have not scattered; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your gold in the
ground. Here it is — you have what belongs to you." "You lazy rascal!"
said the master. "You knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather
where I have not scattered? Then you ought to have put my money on
deposit, and on my return I should have got it back with interest. Take the
bag of gold from him, and give it to the one with the ten bags. For the man
who has will always be given more, till he has enough and to spare; and
the man who has not will forfeit even what he has. Fling the useless servant
out into the dark, the place of wailing and grinding of teeth!"
'When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him,
he will sit n state on his throne, with all the nations gathered before him.
He will separate men into groups, as a shepherd separates the sheep
from the goats, and he will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats
on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right hand, "You have my
Father's blessing; come, enter and possess the kingdom that has been
ready for you since the world was made. For when I was hungry, you gave
me food; when thirsty, you gave me drink; when I was a stranger you took
me into your home, when naked you clothed me; when I was ill you came
to my help, when in prison you visited me." Then the righteous will reply,
"Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and fed you, or thirsty and
gave you drink, a stranger and took you home, or naked and clothed you?
When did we see you ill or in prison, and come to visit you?" And the king
will answer, "I tell you this: anything you did for one of my brothers here,
however humble, you did for me." Then he will say to those on his left
hand, "The curse is upon you; go from my sight to the eternal fire that is
ready for the devil and his angels. For when I was hungry you gave me
nothing to eat, when thirsty nothing to drink; when I was a stranger you
gave me no home, when naked you did not clothe me; when I was ill and in
prison you did not come to my help." And they too will reply, "Lord, when
was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in
prison, and did nothing for you?" And he will answer, "I tell you this:
anything you did not do for one of these, however humble, you did not
do for me." And they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous
will enter eternal life.'
The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970
Posted Oct 2, 2018, 5:39 PM UTC · edited
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