Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
Parallel translations
- WEB Go therefore to the intersections of the highways, and as many as you may find, invite to the marriage feast.’
- BSB Go therefore to the crossroads and invite to the banquet as many as you can find.’
- NKJV Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’
- NASB So go to the main roads, and invite whomever you find there to the wedding feast.’
- NLT Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’
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 king sends servants to invite anyone they find on the highways. This pictures the gospel going out widely, including to the outsiders.
Overview
With the original guests having refused, the king extends the invitation broadly to all who can be found. This anticipates the gospel reaching beyond the religious establishment to tax collectors, sinners, and ultimately the Gentiles. The scene magnifies the breadth of God's grace, which fills His feast with unlikely guests.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Luke 14:21–24So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
- Mark 16:15–16And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
- Prov 1:20–23Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
- Prov 9:4–6Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him,
- Ezek 21:21For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver.
- Luke 24:47And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
- Rev 22:17And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
- Eph 3:8Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
- Prov 8:1–5Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?
- Isa 55:1–3Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
- Acts 13:47For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.
- Isa 55:6–7Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
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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 22:9 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
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