Knox Bible

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And Jesus once more spoke to them in parables;

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Here is an image, he said, of the kingdom of heaven; there was once a king, who held a marriage-feast for his son,

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and sent out his servants with a summons to all those whom he had invited to the wedding; but they would not come.

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Then he sent other servants with a fresh summons, bidding them tell those who had been invited, By this, I have prepared my feast, the oxen have been killed, and the fatlings, all is ready now; come to the wedding.

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But still they paid no heed, and went off on other errands, one to his farm in the country, and another to his trading;

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and the rest laid hands upon his servants, and insulted and killed them.

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The king fell into a rage when he heard of it, and sent out his troops to put those murderers to death, and burn their city.

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After this, he said to his servants, Here is the marriage-feast all ready, and those who had been invited have proved unworthy of it.

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You must go out to the street-corners, and invite all whom you find there to the wedding.

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And his servants went out into the streets, where they mustered all they could find, rogues and honest men together; and so the wedding had its full tale of guests.

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But when the king came in to look at the company, he saw a man there who had no wedding-garment on;✻

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My friend, he said, how didst thou come to be here without a wedding-garment? And he made no reply.

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Whereupon the king said to his servants, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him out into the darkness, where there shall be weeping, and gnashing of teeth.

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Many are called, but few are chosen.✻

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After this the Pharisees withdrew, and plotted together, to make him betray himself in his talk.

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And they sent their own disciples to him, with those who were of Herod’s party, and said, Master, we know well that thou art sincere, and teachest in all sincerity the way of God; that thou holdest no one in awe, making no distinction between man and man;

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tell us, then, is it right to pay tribute to Caesar, or not?

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Jesus saw their malice; Hypocrites, he said, why do you thus put me to the test?

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Shew me the coinage in which the tribute is paid. So they brought him a silver piece,

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and he asked them, Whose is this likeness? Whose name is inscribed on it?

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Caesar’s, they said; whereupon he answered, Why then, give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.

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And they went away and left him in peace, full of admiration at his words.

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On that day, too, he was approached with a question by the Sadducees, men who say that there is no resurrection;

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Master, they said, Moses told us, If a man leaves no children when he dies, his brother shall marry the widow by right of kinship, and beget children in the dead brother’s name.✻

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We had seven brothers once in our country, of whom the first died, a married man without issue, bequeathing his wife to the second.

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And the same befell the second brother, and then the third, and in the end all seven,

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the woman dying last of all.

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And now, when the dead rise again, which of the seven will be her husband, since she was wife to them all?

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Jesus answered them, You are wrong; you do not understand the scriptures, or what is the power of God.

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When the dead rise again, there is no marrying and giving in marriage; they are as the angels in heaven are.

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But now, in the matter of the resurrection, did you never read what God himself said:

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I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?✻ Yet it is of living men, not of dead men, that he is God.

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This the multitude heard, and were amazed by his teaching.

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And now the Pharisees, hearing how he had put the Sadducees to silence, met together;

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and one of them, a lawyer, put a question to try him:

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Master, which commandment in the law is the greatest?

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Jesus said to him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and thy whole soul and thy whole mind.✻

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This is the greatest of the commandments, and the first.

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And the second, its like, is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.✻

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On these two commandments, all the law and the prophets depend.

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Then, while the Pharisees were still gathered about him, Jesus asked them:

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What is your opinion concerning Christ? Whose son is he to be? They told him, David’s.

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How is it then, said he, that David is moved by the Spirit to call him Master, when he says:

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The Lord said to my Master, Sit on my right hand while I make thy enemies a footstool under thy feet?✻

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David calls Christ his Master; how can he be also his son?

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None could find a word to say in answer to him, nor did anyone dare, after that day, to try him with further questions.✻