² “^(A)The kingdom of heaven ^[a]may be compared to ^[b]a king who ^[c]gave a ^(B)wedding feast for his son. ³ And he ^(C)sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. ⁴ Again he ^(D)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 ^[d]farm, another to his business, ⁶ and 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 ^(E)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 ^[e]dinner guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw ^(F)a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, ¹² and he *said to him, ‘^(G)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 ^(H)the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ For many are ^[f](I)called, but few are ^(J)chosen.”

Parable of the Dinner

¹⁶ But He said to him, “^(A)A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; ¹⁷ and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ ¹⁸ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a ^[a]piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; ^[b]please consider me excused.’ ¹⁹ Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; ^[c]please consider me excused.’ ²⁰ Another one said, ‘^(B)I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ ²¹ And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ ²² And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ ²³ And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’”