So the servants went out into the streets and gathered everyone they could find, both evil and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
Parallel translations
- WEB Those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good. The wedding was filled with guests.
- KJV So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
- NKJV So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.
- NASB Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.
- NLT So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The servants gather all they find, both bad and good, and the hall is filled. The Kingdom's invitation reaches every kind of person.
Overview
The wide gathering of 'both bad and good' shows that the gospel call goes out to all without distinction of merit. The filled wedding hall portrays God's determination to have His feast fully attended. Yet the mixed company also prepares for the next scene, where mere presence is not the same as true belonging.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 1 Jn 2:19They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us.
- 1 Cor 6:9–11Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,
- Rev 2:20–23But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
- Rev 19:6–9And I heard a sound like the roar of a great multitude, like the rushing of many waters, and like a mighty rumbling of thunder, crying out: “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
- Matt 13:47–48Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea and caught all kinds of fish.
- 2 Cor 12:21I am afraid that when I come again, my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of their acts of impurity, sexual immorality, and debauchery.
- Rev 7:9After this I looked and saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
- Matt 22:11–12But when the king came in to see the guests, he spotted a man who was not dressed in wedding clothes.
- Matt 25:1–2“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
- Matt 25:10But while they were on their way to buy it, the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.
- Rev 2:14–15But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.
- Rev 5:9And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
- Matt 13:38The field is the world, and the good seed represents the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 22:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.