Matthew Chapter 22 verse 3 Holy Bible

ASV Matthew 22:3

and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the marriage feast: and they would not come.
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BBE Matthew 22:3

And sent out his servants to get in the guests to the feast: and they would not come.
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DARBY Matthew 22:3

and sent his bondmen to call the persons invited to the wedding feast, and they would not come.
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KJV Matthew 22:3

And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
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WBT Matthew 22:3


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WEB Matthew 22:3

and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast, but they would not come.
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YLT Matthew 22:3

and he sent forth his servants to call those having been called to the marriage-feasts, and they were not willing to come.
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 3. - Sent forth his servants. In the East, the original invitation to a solemn festivity is followed by reminders as the day approaches (comp. Esther 5:8; Esther 6:14). The servants here are John the Baptist, the twelve apostles, the seventy, who first preached the gospel to the Jewish people. Them that were bidden. The Jews had already been invited to come in; to them already belonged "the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants... and the promises" (Romans 9:1). These early missionaries were sent to bring such things to their remembrance, and to bid them obey the call. They would not (οὐκ ἤθελον) come. Their reasons for refusal are not given here - a fact which differentiates this parable from that of the great supper. A general disinclination or aversion is denoted; no actual outrage is perpetrated as yet, but the invited guests are ripening for this stage, in that they despise the King's Son, and believe not in his Divine mission. This backwardness and obduracy recall Christ's lamentation, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" (Luke 13:34, 35).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(3) Sent forth his servants.--As in the parable of the Vineyard (Matthew 21:33-46), the servants represent the aggregate work of the prophets up to the time of the Baptist. The refusal of guests invited to what seems to us so great an honour may seem, at first sight, so contrary to human nature as to be wanting in the element of dramatic probability. That refusal, however, would be natural enough, we must remember, in subjects who were in heart rebellious and disloyal; and it is precisely that character which the parable was intended to portray. The summons, it may be noted, came in the first instance to those who had long ago been "bidden" to the wedding. The proclamation of the kingdom was addressed to the Jews, who, as such, had all along been children of the kingdom.